Alvie
by ArtemisApollo97
Summary: Alvie had always been different. Even for a son of the legendary Percy and Annabeth Jackson, he was odd. From his parents' struggle and confusion during his babyhood and then his own struggle and confusion as he grew up. Alvie didn't understand why he didn't fit in, why people shunned him for something that wasn't his fault. Could Crystal change that?
1. New Squirtface

**This is Alvie's story. If you don't know who he is, he is Annabeth and Percy's third son.**

* * *

Alvie was… different. When Tobias and Max were little, they made noises or cried when they wanted attention. Alvie didn't. He only cried when he had been ignored for too long, but it wasn't like he was being ignored intentionally. He was such a quiet baby and whenever someone held him, he wouldn't cuddle up to the holder, but remain stiff and unresponsive.

Annabeth's worry was growing. Percy noticed, having his own concerns for Alvie.

"Talk to me, Wise-girl." He said, massaging her shoulders.

"Are we doing something wrong?" She asked quietly.

"No." Annabeth turned and looked at him, tears in her eyes. Percy hugged her. "We'll keep an eye on him, OK?" She nodded, burying her face in his chest. Percy shifted his arms around her, holding her securely and rubbing her back reassuringly.

"Daddy, there's someone at the door." Tobias looked at his parents curiously. "Is Mammy OK?"

"She's tired, Tobias." Tobias toddled forward and hugged Annabeth's leg.

"Mammy get sleep." He insisted. "Daddy get door."

Percy answered the door, only to have a blue thing thrown in his face. He caught it and saw it was a toy, sky blue rabbit with long limbs and ears.

"Took ya time, bro." Percy glanced up.

"Hey sis. Alright, Leo?"

"Hey." Leo grinned. Elsie waved at Percy from where she was balanced on her father's hip.

"Percay." She said, looking at Leo. "Go Percay." Louisa barged past her brother and eagerly greeted her nephews. Percy took Elsie from Leo and waved his step-brother in.

"How's the new midget workin' for ya?" Louisa smiled.

"Well… he's different, to put it gently." Both Louisa and Leo looked concerned. Percy explained about Alvie's silent and unresponsive behaviour.

"Maybe he finds you smelly."

"Thanks for that, Leo." Leo grinned cheekily.

"Anytime."


	2. Hearing

**This story may not be amazing for a while, but I'm trying to do something that will be revealed to those who don't know much about Alvie. I do have a good idea for future chapters and it will be good, so just bear with me on this. Thanks :D**

* * *

Alvie was up again. He seemed to have difficulty settling at night, but if Annabeth or Percy went to comfort him, he would shy away or remain or, in some cases, rigid, not wanting to be held.

Percy left to mix up a bottle while Annabeth attempted to pick the infant up.

"You're supposed to be sleeping." Annabeth gave a tired smile. Alvie seemed content staring at the swaying zoo animal mobile hanging above his cot. Annabeth watched him carefully, snapping her fingers next to his ear. He didn't look round, let alone blink. He was transfixed by the mobile. She shifted him in her arms and snapped her fingers against his other ear. Still no response, but with the mobile out of sight, he was staring at her hair.

Percy returned, instantly noticing her worried expression.

"What's the matter?"

"He… I think…" Annabeth trailed off. Percy put an arm around her. "He doesn't respond." Annabeth snapped her fingers near Alvie's ears again. Alvie was still watching her hair.

Percy frowned. "Do you think he's deaf?" Annabeth asked quietly, chewing her lip.

Percy dropped the baby bottle. It landed with a dull, loud thud, making Alvie jump. He whimpered.

"No, he's not deaf." Annabeth soothed Alvie as best she could, but he was almost robotic in his arms.

"It's OK, Alvie. Just Daddy being stupid." Her soft tone seemed to have no effect. Percy picked the bottle up and removed the lid, letting a few drops of warm milk fall onto Alvie's tongue. Percy handed the bottle over and Annabeth quietened Alvie by feeding him. "I think we should get his hearing checked."

"Can they check them so young?" Annabeth hesitated. Could they?


	3. Not feeding

Alvie's milk dribbled down his chin.

"Percy!" Percy appeared in the bathroom doorway, in a towel. Annabeth ignored this point and waved him over. "I'm trying to feed him, but he's spitting it back out." Percy bit his lip.

"Is that your milk?"

"Yeah…" Percy nodded. "I thought it'd be better for him, but I don't think he likes it."

"He could be used to the powder milk stuff." Percy suggested.

"Daddy, you no has clothes on!" Percy looked round. Max was laughing at him.

"My clothes burnt up from how-" Annabeth nudged him. "No fair." Percy muttered. "I was in the shower, Mr. Judgemental."

"Percy, go and put something on." Annabeth laughed. Percy flexed cheekily before leaving. Annabeth rolled her eyes, smiling.


	4. That's why

"What's he doing?" Percy asked. Alvie was munching on his hand.

"Teething. I think." Annabeth gently pulled Alvie's hand away. "Ew…" She wiped his hand on his bib, wiping away baby dribble.

"Can I hold Alvie?" Tobias asked, toddling forward.

"Sure." Tobias clambered up on the sofa clumsily and sat between his parents and held his arms out. Annabeth gently shifted Alvie into her eldest son's arms.

Alvie didn't settle.

"Is he no comfy?"

"He's always been like that." Annabeth assured gently.

"He no like being held?"

"Don't think so." Percy muttered.

"Where's he bunny?" Max asked, climbing up onto Percy's lap. At the word 'bunny', Alvie looked round. Percy and Annabeth shared a look. He normally didn't respond to words, but he was really attached to his toy rabbit, the one Louisa had thrown in Percy's face a few weeks ago.

When 'bunny' didn't appear, Alvie started fidgeting, unnerving Tobias. Max jumped down, ran off and fetched 'bunny'. The toy somewhat calmed Alvie but he, as usual, did not relax and still didn't want to be held. He clung to his toy and stared at the living room light.

* * *

Percy walked into the kitchen while Annabeth was cooking dinner.

"Something's not right." He voiced. Annabeth sighed in relief and looked at him. She had been thinking the same thing, but didn't say anything in case she was being paranoid.

"What do we do?" Percy shrugged.

"Take him to the doctors." He paused, getting a table spoon from the drawer. "Or ask Apollo or someone." He taste-tested the soup she was making. "Bit more salt." He told her, grinning cheekily.

"Shut up." She grumbled, pushing him away from her precious homemade soup. "Do I talk to Mom later?" Percy nodded.

"Ask her what the lottery numbers are as well."

"You are so annoying."

"You love me for it." He smiled.

* * *

Annabeth woke up to silence. Alvie had the habit of waking up at half one in the morning.

Instead, she found her mother sat at the end of the bed, tending to Alvie. He still had hold of his precious blue rabbit toy.

Percy muttered in his sleep, shifting his arms around Annabeth. Athena glared at him, her expression softening when she saw Annabeth was awake.

"Hi Mom." Annabeth said quietly, sitting up, being careful not to wake her husband up.

"Still with the sea spawn?"

"Always." Annabeth replied defiantly. Athena nodded, looking back at the dozing Alvie in her arms. "I needed to talk to you."

"I know."

"Is there something wrong with Alvie or am I just paranoid?"

"What does he do that makes you think something is wrong?" Annabeth hesitated before describing the various things Alvie did that was different in comparison to Tobias and Max when they were Alvie's age, mentioning his silent behaviour and how he seemed content staring at the light or something that moved.

Annabeth fell silent. Athena held her gaze for a few seconds before studying Alvie's sleeping face. "I think he has trouble hearing things too." Annabeth added quietly.

"No. He hears fine. He just does not react." Annabeth frowned.

"What'd you mean?" Athena stood up and handed Alvie to Annabeth. "Mom?"

"He's autistic."


	5. Funny baby

Percy seemed to take the goddess-given news fairly well, surprising Annabeth. She was panicking, ready to research autism. Percy was really calm and held her for an hour until she calmed down enough to think straight.

"What are we going to do?" Annabeth asked quietly, strangely relaxing to the steady beat of his heart. Percy stroked her hair and kissed her forehead.

"We'll treat him like normal."

"But he'll have trouble learning to walk and talk and… and… ooh, let me research it." She tried to pull away from his arms, but he held tight. "Percy, let go."

"Calm down, OK?" He smiled. "He's still our son. He'll be fine, Annabeth."

* * *

Other than the autism, Alvie was fine, as Percy had said. But that didn't stop Annabeth worrying. Tobias and Max didn't seem to understand why Alvie acted differently and they grew wary of him. It broke Annabeth's heart to see the two elder brothers treating Alvie as if he were a bomb that could off at any second. Percy tried to encourage them to sit together, but Max didn't 'want to sit with Alvie 'cos he funny baby'.

"No, he's not a funny baby, you are." Percy replied instantly, smiling and poking Max in the stomach. "Be nice to your brother, you two. He needs big, strong brothers, not silly little weeds."

"We no weeds!" Tobias protested. "We big, strong brothers."

"We be nice to funny baby." Max added. Percy folded his arms stubbornly. "We be nice to Alvie." Max corrected.

"There we go."

The boys stuck to their word, much to their parents' approval.

* * *

Annabeth and Percy cheered. Alvie was nearly two years old and was still getting the hang of walking.

"Alvie, come to Daddy!" Percy grinned. Alvie didn't respond, but waved his hands by his ears. "What's he doing?" Percy asked, barely moving his lips. He glanced at Annabeth.

"It's a self-stimulatory behaviour."

"Right…" Percy said uncertainly. Max moved towards Alvie and handed over a toy car. It took Alvie a while to focus on the toy, but he seemed content with spinning the wheels and watching them. "And that one?"

"They, uh, do that. It's another self-stimulatory behaviour, apparently." Percy just nodded, looking back at Alvie.

"Alvie." He called. Max looked up and patted Alvie's shoulder.

"Daddy calling you." Alvie squirmed around from Max's hand and toddled off, taking the car with him. "Daddy, why he do that?"

"He thinks you're smelly."

"Percy, don't say that!" Annabeth snapped. Percy smiled sheepishly. "Max, you're not smelly. Alvie's just learning to get on with people." Annabeth frowned. "Where's Tobias?"

"He sleeping under bed." Max said matter-of-factly. Percy sniggered. Annabeth glared at him and Percy hurried off to find Tobias. "What funny?"

"Daddy's just being silly. Ignore him." Annabeth looked down to see Alvie was sitting at her feet, still spinning the wheels on the car and watching them blankly. "Alvie." She said, kneeling next to him. He didn't look round and Annabeth tried to take the car. He tensed and held onto the car with surprising strength. He didn't look up at her, not responding to his name, just the fact that his car was going to be taken away.

"Alvie can keep car." Max said.

"That's nice of you, Max." Annabeth smiled, letting go of the car. Alvie carried on spinning the wheels as if nothing had happened.

Tobias wandered over, yawning and holding Alvie's toy rabbit. "Did you fall asleep under the bed, silly?" Tobias nodded, holding out the rabbit toy. Alvie watched it for a few seconds, before dropping the car and taking the rabbit. Tobias moved away and put his head against Annabeth's leg. She picked him up and patted his back. Tobias seemed a bit warm and she caught Percy's eye across the room.

* * *

**Sorry it's not much, but I made it up on the spot. I was thinking of a time skip for when Alvie starts school. What'd you guys think? **


	6. Friend!

**Instead of updating on the usual fic tonight, I'm going to try and update on other fics, such as this one, obviously. This is mainly because I don't want to post more drabble chapters and I've got roughly an hour before Mum insists I go to bed as I've got to get up early tomorrow to go out and try and get a job (wish me luck!) Other than that, I am going on study leave next week, so no school! Woo! **

**I'm going to skip forward to when Alvie's in school and eleven years old, but I will do flashbacks so we get some stuff from his past. This is mainly because I have no idea what I'm doing.**

* * *

"Hey, dumbass!" A half full soda can exploded against the locker mere inches from Alvie's head. He heard jeering laughs from behind him. Alvie didn't respond, as he had been told, and carried on getting his books from his locker. "Oy, dumbass! Don't ignore us!"

He closed the locker and left, shoving his books in his bag. He was aware he was being followed, but continued to not pay attention.

* * *

In Math class, sat at the back, Alvie was struggling with the work, but that was nothing unusual. The lesson went as usual, except that it was interrupted halfway through by the principal.

"Morning, class." He smiled. There was a grumble of responses. "Now, now, smile. We have a new pupil and I want you to welcome her." The principal stepped aside and in walked the new girl.

Alvie didn't really pay attention to most new kids as they would join the others and pick on him so that they wouldn't be picked on by the bullies.

But this one seemed different. She must have felt his eyes on her as she caught his gaze instantly and smiled warmly, a hint of shyness behind it. Her eyes were a silvery-blue and warm like the summer sky. Her hair was a silvery-blonde, tied in a French plait that hung over her shoulder. Her tanned skin was smooth and glowed healthily. Her eyes and her smile lit up her angelic features.

Their Math teacher smiled warmly, getting up and greeting the new girl by shaking her warmly by the hand.

"Hello. I'm Mr. Tate."

"Crystal Murphy." The girl said, smiling. Mr. Tate looked around the class and pointed.

"There's a spare seat next to Alvie." Crystal looked at Alvie and her smile broadened. Alvie just stared at her as she took her seat next to him.

"Hi." She said.

"H-hi." Alvie stammered. He wasn't overly good with new people, especially girls.

"Alvie, did you get this lesson's notes down?"

"Uh… some of them." Alvie replied quietly. Mr. Tate nodded, expecting no less.

"Can I look?" Crystal asked. Alvie nodded and pushed his book towards her as Mr. Tate handed her an exercise book of her own. "Thanks, sir." Mr. Tate continued with the lesson. Crystal copied Alvie's notes before flicking through the book. "Oh, wow." She breathed. "I love your doodles."

"Thanks." Alvie replied quietly. Crystal looked at him curiously, noticing how his eyes darted around the classroom, sometimes settling on the board or a poster, but sometimes, his silver eyes lingered on a fellow classmate and he would look down hurriedly. Crystal looked around as well and noticed some people were sending her pitying looks while others sent sneers in their direction, all of them directed at Alvie.

"Do you not get one with these people?"

"They don't like me." Alvie sighed.

"Why?"

"Dunno."

"'Cos he's a dumbass." Someone hissed. Crystal glanced round and saw one of the stereotypical jocks with gelled dark blonde hair and hazel eyes. "Why don't you sit with me, sugar?"

"Why don't you keep your mouth shut and _don't_ call me 'sugar'." Crystal warned quietly. The jock looked mildly surprised.

"Oh, you'll take that back at some point, sugar." Crystal's eyes suddenly hardened and the jock looked down at his work.

"So, Alfie-"

"Alvie."

"Sorry. What's your favourite colour?" Alvie stared at her as if she were from another planet. No-body tried to learn what he was like, let alone talk to him. It had him clamming up instantly.

"Alvie, what's the answer?" Alvie drew his gaze from his book and looked up, leaving Crystal's ice-breaker question unanswered. He studied the complicated equation on the board before scanning the question.

"Um…" He said brilliantly.

"Dumbass." Somebody coughed.

"Jerk." Crystal coughed in reply. The teacher blinked at her, having heard the 'dumbass' comment himself. Alvie had clammed up again, shaking his head in a silent 'I don't know the answer, sir'. The teacher sighed.

The bell rang ten minutes later. Everyone hurried out to recess, but Alvie was called back. Crystal didn't want to go out into the grounds on her own so hung back.

"Crystal, may you wait outside for Alvie?" The teacher asked kindly. Crystal nodded, giving Alvie a reassuring smile and stepping outside, closing the door behind her. "Alvie, is everything OK?"

"Usual." Alvie replied monotonously. The teacher looked him up and down.

"How was Crystal?" Alvie nodded. "That's not really an answer, Mr. Jackson."

"She was OK. Stood up to Liam."

"Finally, we've found someone." Mr. Tate glanced up at the ceiling, as if saying 'praise the heavens'. Alvie smiled weakly. "Listen, I know Math is difficult for you, but you seem great at remembering various formulas, even if they are in the front of the exam paper." Alvie shrugged.

"I'm good with numbers."

"Yes, your mother told me you've remembered the bus and train times and the stops by examining the maps." The teacher paused. "And the prices, including discounts."

"Mmm…"

"Maybe if you tried to remember different formulas and solutions like you remember bus times, you could be getting that C grade you want." Alvie just nodded. "Is everything else OK?"

"Yeah."

"Sure?" Alvie nodded again. "Alright, you may go. And remember, I want some of those cookies your mother makes next lesson." Alvie looked at him quizzically. "It is my birthday Monday."

"Is it?"

"Yep."

"Alright then. See you later sir."

* * *

"You're not very talkative, are you?" Crystal asked through a mouthful of fries. Alvie continued picking at his pizza. "Oh my gosh, are they your brothers?" Alvie made to look round when an arm went around his neck and somebody ruffled his hair.

"Hey, Alvie. Who's your friend?" Tobias dropped in the seat next to him.

"New g-mmm…" Tobias had shoved a handful of fries in Alvie's mouth while the younger brother was talking.

"Tobias Jackson." He grinned, holding his hand out.

"Crystal Murphy." Crystal replied, shaking hands with him. "You could've made him choke." Alvie nodded in agreement, trying to work through the mouthful.

Tobias's grin turned sarcastic.

"He'll be fine."

"Oh, you're killing him!" Tobias turned as a girl about his age with curly, raven hair and sapphire blue eyes appeared. She smacked Tobias's shoulder. "Your own brother!"

"I know, right?" Alvie tapped Tobias's shoulder. Tobias looked round to see Alvie put a bunch of mashed up fries in front of his front teeth. "Ew… pig!" Alvie licked his lips and smiled innocently.

"You owe me lunch, remember?"

"Oh, yeah." Tobias got up, ruffling Alvie's hair. "Be good."

"Mm-mmnh- hm." Alvie managed. Crystal smiled.

"So, what's your favourite colour?"

* * *

**Boom! Alvie has a friend! **

**REVIEW PLEASE! **


	7. Trouble

"You don't talk much, do you?" Alvie just nodded, trying to lose himself in his book. "What are you reading?" Alvie held the book up instead of answering. "Ooh, I've read those." Crystal smiled. "I love them, but the author is so mean."

"Hey, no spoilers. I've only just got this."

"Sorry." Crystal smiled. "Just prepare with a box of tissues, OK?"

"I don't cry."

"Why? Is it not manly enough?" Alvie gave a small smile. "Hey, you smile. Wow. Let me get photographic evidence." Alvie hid his face in his book. "Oh, don't be like that." She tried to gently prise the third Hunger Games book away. "Hi." She smiled when she had uncovered his eyes. "You're so unsociable."

"Mm." He hummed. He started reading again. Crystal watched him for a few seconds before snatching up his rucksack and rummaging through it. It took a minute for him to notice, but she had already found some interesting things.

There were two others books- the fourth Harry Potter and a book by a guy called Ben Kane called _Spartacus: The Gladiator_. Both had bookmarks about halfway through.

She also found a writing book, Alvie's shaky print filling every page. He really needed to sort out his spelling.

But what worried her was the knife.

"Alvie?" She gingerly picked the knife up. Alvie looked pale.

"Um… that's a, uh, gift from my aunt."

"Why would she give you a knife? Why would you bring it to school?" Crystal made to get up, but Alvie grabbed her wrist, dropping his book. He snapped his fingers and she blacked out.

* * *

"Oy, wake up. We've got Math in two minutes."

"Wh-? Ugh, my head hurts."

Alvie hadn't liked using the Mist on Crystal, but it stopped him having to explain all the demigod stuff and losing the one friend he did have.

He gently helped her to her feet and picked up her bag. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"

"I only just noticed."

"Aw, lil' bookworm." She teased, poking his side. Alvie poked her in return. "Give me my bag."

"No, it's OK."

"Are you carrying my stuff for me?" Alvie nodded. "Why can't all guys be like you? You read, you carry a girl's stuff. Although, you do wake her up late."

"Sorry. It was a good book."

"Wait until the ending."

"No spoilers!"

* * *

Alvie opened doors for her on the way to Math class. He got strange looks from people, but Crystal had noticed that people threw strange looks his way every day. He had obviously become accustomed to them, but that wasn't exactly a good thing.

He was such a gentleman. If they didn't have the same class, he would walk her to class. He would open doors for her, carry her stuff and occasionally share his lunch with her if she didn't have enough money for a proper lunch. He had turned up in the middle of class to return her Geography book to her. She had asked him how had he got out of lesson and he said he being with the counsellor, but didn't elaborate.

Despite his sweetness, there was something he was hiding. He was different from the others guys, other than the fact he was a little gentleman. There were times when it felt like Crystal was talking to the trees or the walls. He seemed to have a little world of his own in the back of his mind and, most of the time, he fell so deep into that world, he didn't seem to register that someone was talking to him. More often than not, she had had to pinch his arm to get his attention.

He was like that in Math. He was reading under the table until their teacher arrived, but as soon as the lesson started, his mind was elsewhere. Crystal made sure to write down all the notes for Alvie to copy later. But copying wasn't going to help him.

"Alvie." She hissed, pinching his arm. His eyes came into focus and he looked round.

"What?"

"Focus." He nodded and looked at the board, his eyes scanning the equations written on it. She passed over her book and he copied the notes down.

"Alvie, what is Pythagoras's theorem?"

"Um…"

"No looking down at your book." The teacher smiled.

"Uh…" His hesitation bought forth a few snickers from the class.

"Ssh!" The teacher ordered, frowning. He looked back at Alvie patiently.

"A… A squared add… add B squared equals… C squared?" Alvie said haltingly.

"Try and make it not sound like a question." The teacher smiled kindly.

"A squared add B squared equals C squared." Crystal smiled and Alvie relaxed slightly.

"Took him a while." Somebody muttered. Mean laughs went up and Alvie's good mood faltered.

"It won't take me very long to come over there and smack you though." Crystal said brightly, giving an angelic smile. Alvie's expression lightened.

"Crystal, we don't make threats." The teacher warned.

"But bullying is OK? That's hardly fair."

"We will deal with it, Crystal."

"That's what all teachers say. I think we'd do a better job."

"I am not debating the school's disciplinary rules with you, Ms. Murphy. If you want to take that debate up with someone, take it up with the principal."

"Fine." Crystal packed her stuff up, got up and swung her bag onto her shoulder. She marched out without a care in the world.

The teacher shook his head.

"Crazy children…" He muttered. "Alright, two minutes to work out the length of the hypotenuse."

* * *

Alvie was called to the principal's office twenty minutes later.

"Book." The teacher demanded as he passed. Alvie hesitated before handing it over. "Well, you like to doodle."

"Mm."

"Alvie, Math isn't difficult once you get your head around it. I'm always here if you need help and I'm sure your brothers would be willing to help as well, should you ask. Tobias was a little Math bod when he was here."

"Was he?" The teacher nodded. "He never said that."

"I'll mark this and give it back to you next lesson, OK?" Alvie nodded. The teacher smacked him lightly on the head with the book. "Now go or you'll get me in trouble too."

Alvie left, crossing the corridor and going through the double doors to get to the stairs to go downstairs.

He was wondering what Crystal had said that would have made the principal call him to his office. Hopefully she didn't remember the knife.

Had his parents been called? Would they be on their way or would they already be here?

At the principal's office, Alvie found that it wasn't his parents that had been called. It was his eldest brother, Tobias.

"Hey bro."

"What are you doing here?"

"Mom and Dad are working and asked me to come by."

"What about Lou or Leo?"

"Lou's gone walkies again and Leo's looking after the kids."

"Oh. OK."

"Why? Not happy to see me?"

"Yeah, of course I am!"

"Alvie, I'm just teasing." Tobias smiled kindly, getting up and putting an arm around his brother. "Come on; let's see what trouble you've caused this time."

Crystal was relaxing in a leather chintz chair this side of the principal's desk. The principal, Mr Brooks, had a pen in his hand and a notepad on the desk in front of him. He was reading through a few pages of his neat, cursive writing. Mr. Brooks was in his late-fifties, early sixties with white hair and strict brown eyes. Once again, he was in a smart, crisp suit and shined shoes.

"Oh, I thought we got rid of you." The principal sighed.

"You missed me really, sir." Tobias grinned. The principal replied by rolling his eyes, but he wore an amused smile.

"Take a seat." The principal offered, spreading his hands at the other two chairs identical to Crystal's next to her. Tobias pointedly sat on the end seat, leaving the chair next to Crystal open for Alvie. Alvie didn't react to this, knowing it would give his brother the satisfaction.

The principal sighed. "Right, to business."

"As always." Tobias added.

"You," The principal pointed accusingly at Tobias, "was enough trouble when you were here. No trouble now." Tobias gave his best angelic smile. "Anyway, Alvie, Crystal has come to see me and explained the situation in Math class." Alvie glanced at Crystal, silently amused to see she was carefree and making a thin plait in her silvery-blonde hair, humming a merry tune to herself. "She's reported several accounts of bullying- I assume it's the same people?" Alvie nodded.

"And they're getting others involved." Crystal added.

"Tell me who they are." Tobias insisted.

"Why?" Mr Brooks quizzed.

"Obviously, I'm not going to hurt them."

"Obviously. And no, I won't." Tobias's shoulders slouched in defeat. "Alvie, what has been happening?"

"Sir, I told you."

"I know, Ms. Murphy, but I want to hear it from Alvie."

They were all watching him patiently and expectantly, but Alvie couldn't frame the words in his mind into a verbal reply. His voice always betrayed him in situations like these.

The bell rang for next lesson. Alvie realised they had been waiting for over five minutes for him to speak. He just looked down at his lap, remaining mute.

"One sec." Tobias said. He got up and left.

"What's the matter, Alvie?" Crystal asked kindly. Alvie didn't react to her voice, not registering she had spoken.

Tobias returned minutes later with a blob of blue plasticine. He pressed it into Alvie's hand.

Alvie loved plasticine. He could make anything he wanted and destroy it and start all over again without having to worry. It helped calm his nerves- having control of something as simple as a blob of plasticine. And it was his favourite colour.

"OK…" The principal said. He had long learnt not to question anything the Jacksons or the Valdez's. It was just confusing and gave him a headache. They had their own little methods for everything; methods that he wouldn't have thought of in the first place. "Alvie, what happened then?"

Half an hour later, Alvie was making his (most likely) hundredth figure from the plasticine. He had finished recalling everything the bullies had done. Judging by the way Mr. Brooks jotted notes down and looked at the ones he had written from Crystal's influence, he was comparing the two. He didn't look worried.

"Well, your story is pretty much the same as Crystal, except it spans over a longer time period."

"You gonna call them down here and smack them?" Tobias asked. "I mean, not smack them. Uh… whatever you do now."

"Tobias, if I hit every child that annoyed me, I wouldn't have had this job for as long as I do. And I would have a mass of parents after me with torches and pitch forks."

"You could hire me. I'm looking for a job anyway."

"No, you've done your time here. Don't come back."

"Sir!" Tobias laughed. "Oh, you loved my company really."

"Sad to say that I did. You were… amusing."

"Amusing? What about sheer awesome sauce?"

"Hey, can we sort Alvie out first? You two can have your little guy chat afterwards."

"Yes, yes. Apologies." Mr. Brooks sighed. "Alright, I'll ring their parents and have these… _bullies_ come to my office after lunch. Hopefully I will be able to sort things out for you, Alvie."

"If not, can I hit them?"

"Please tell me you come with an off-switch…" Mr. Brooks grumbled, hiding his face in his hands. His voice was muffled, but sounded exhausted.

"Don't you think Mom would have found it and slapped an 'out-of-order' sign on my head by now?"

"I pity your family."

"I don't. I annoy them."

* * *

"Why did you switch off when Brooks asked you what happened?" Crystal asked as they queued up for lunch.

"Um… I- I don't know."

"Are you OK?" He nodded meekly, not looking up at her. The school cook looked at him expectantly. Alvie nodded at the fries and the pizza. Crystal got the same. They went and sat at their table in the far corner of the cafeteria. "There's something about you that's different." Alvie gave a nervous laugh.

"There's a lot about me that's different."

"Such as?" He shook his head. "No, you can't say that you're a lot different and then not tell me anything." He looked up at her quizzically. "I'm nosy, OK? And that's not fair. Like- Finnick d-"

"No spoilers!"

"You read slowly!"

"I've had five minutes reading time today. I got through three chapters."

"In five minutes?"

"Maybe ten."

"That's more like it." They ate in silence. Crystal tried to get his attention by flicking the burnt end of a few fries at him. "Ugh, don't ignore me." He looked up at her again as if remembering she was there. "So, what is your favourite bo-?"

A milkshake cartoon landed on the table, leaking chocolate milkshake everywhere. Alvie sighed, getting up. He returned with a load of paper napkins, mopping the drink up.

Laughs from their grade's jocks' table reached Crystal and she saw red. She picked up her pudding of yogurt, stalking over to the jocks' table. She deliberately dumped the bowl on the Liam- the 'leader'-, the bowl making a nice hat. Yogurt ran down his face.

His girlfriend, who Crystal couldn't remember the name of (she was another Barbie- there was no point), jumped to her feet and made to slap Crystal. Crystal stepped out of range quickly, stepped back in and gave the girlfriend a hard slap.

"That," Crystal spat, "is for being a bitch." She snatched the bowl from Liam's head and dropped it in his lunch of spaghetti bolognese. Sauce splattered all over his expensive, white T-shirt. "And that is for being an arse." She spun on her heel and walked calmly back to her table, not a care weighing down on her.

Alvie was staring at her as if she were from another planet. He had finished cleaning up, milkshake sodden paper napkins in a pile at the end of the table. Crystal sat down calmly and continued with her fries, as if nothing had happened.

Five minutes later, the principal arrived and Crystal, Alvie, Liam and Liam's girlfriend were taken to the principal's office. Parents were called in- Alvie's were still working, but his aunt turned up. No-one turned up for Crystal- her parents were working as well and there was no-one else.

Louisa, obviously, found it all very funny. Mr. Brooks didn't agree with that.

* * *

**Woo! This is seven pages, author's note included. And I made it up on the spot. Tell me what you think PLEASE! I'm hoping to update on this more often. **


	8. Joy

Crystal was helping Alvie with his Math again. He got confused, but she could work with that. What she struggled to work with was him getting distracted easily.

"Oy, focus." She smiled, pinching his leg sharply. Alvie looked at her curiously, as if he hadn't registered any pain. She had been well known for her harsh pinches in her old school. "Anyway, look." She started going through the fraction rules with him. This was past work he didn't understand, but had kept in the hope that his mother would find a free hour to help him. Having six other children as well as Alvie and a demanding job, Annabeth rarely had free time, even at weekends when she was off. "Are you OK?" Crystal asked, pulling Alvie from her thoughts. Alvie nodded and looked back down at his Math book. Crystal had made notes in his book for him, but her neat writing swirled and jumped about. If only she knew how to write in Ancient Greek… his life would be so much easier.

A bottle of water fell into Alvie's lap, minus a lid. Water splashed everywhere, soaking Alvie's trousers and his Math book.

"Heh, look. Dumbass has wet himself." This was followed by mean laughs and jeers. Alvie just ignored them, as his mother had told him to.

Crystal, however didn't, snatching up the water bottle. It was still half-full, at least. She chucked the water at Liam, soaking his trousers in retaliation.

"Oh look. King Shit has wet himself." Liam snarled at her, grabbing her wrist. "Get off me." She growled.

"Or what, girly?" Liam spat in return.

None of them expected Alvie to jump up and tackle Liam. Crystal stumbled and nearly fell over with them, but Liam's grip had gone slack in his surprise and she was free. Regaining her balance, she saw Alvie had Liam pinned to the ground and in a headlock.

"Alvie?" She asked, stunned. Alvie didn't respond to his name, as usual, but that's not what bothered her. His eyes seemed darker, sharper. Liam was struggling to get out of the headlock. Alvie's athletic frame betrayed hidden strength, amazing them all. "Alvie, stop it." Crystal moved forward and tugged on Alvie's arm. His eyes dulled and he looked confused.

Noticing he had Liam in a headlock, he let go and scrambled away. Crystal helped him to his feet. "Are you OK?" She asked him again. Alvie nodded, as he had before. "Let's get you cleaned up."

* * *

"Alvie Jackson to my office, please, Alvie Jackson." The principal spoke over the tannoy.

"Second time this week, Alvie. What are you up to?" Their Science teacher smiled. Alvie just shrugged, shoving his book in his bag and leaving.

Alvie met his father outside the principal's office.

"Hey, bud." Percy smiled warmly, moving forward and putting his arm around his son. "I literally had to write the call I got down- apparently you tried to kill that Liam kid." Alvie didn't reply, knocking on the principal's door. "Your mom's gonna flip when she finds out." Percy ruffled Alvie's hair, noticing his son's hesitation.

Liam and his mother were sat on the right side of the room. Mr. Brooks directed Alvie and Percy to sit on the opposite side.

"So, Alvie, here again." Alvie just nodded. "Did you strangle Liam at recess?" Alvie shook his head. "I've been told that you were strangling Liam until one of his friends managed to pull you away as Liam was turning blue."

"Who said that?" Alvie asked quietly. Mr. Brooks checked his notes.

"Daniel."

"Figures."

"Daniel's full of bull." Percy said at the same time. "We all know that." Mr. Brooks regarded Percy for a moment before looking at Alvie.

"What happened then?"

"Liam dumped water on me. I ignored him, like Mom told me to, but Crystal threw the rest of the water over him." Alvie felt all eyes on him and curled his fingers into his T-shirt nervously. Percy put a hand on Alvie's shoulder. "Liam grabbed Crystal's wrist and wouldn't let go."

"Is that when you, uh, _attacked_ him?" Alvie remained silent. The principal sighed, reaching for one of the phones on his desk. This one was the tannoy. "Will Crystal Murphy come to my office? Crystal Murphy." He put the phone down.

Crystal arrived two minutes later. She smiled kindly at Alvie, glared at Liam briefly before taking a seat next to Alvie. "Crystal, what happened at recess?" Crystal boldly explained everything, not caring that Liam was glowering at her. She spoke so calmly and so easily, it was like she was here for tea and not in possible trouble.

"And then Alvie tackled Liam and got him in a headlock."

"At any point did Liam turn blue?"

"No."

"Alvie didn't strangle him?"

"Can you imagine Alvie strangling anyone?"

"Well, I didn't imagine Alvie tackling anyone." The principal countered calmly.

"Fair point." Crystal admitted. "But he's not heartless like that. He's too nice to endanger someone's life."

"We have to very different stories. What now?"

"Shoot the lot of them." Percy advised. Mr. Brooks looked at him, smiling in a slightly amused fashion.

"Like father, like son." He muttered. Percy still heard him and smiled.

"Tobias?"

"Yep."

"Pain in the ass." Mr. Brooks chuckled and nodded in agreement.

* * *

Alvie had a fifteen minute detention for attacking Liam, but it was argued it was out of defence. Crystal smiled, remembering how he only reacted when Liam had threatened her. Liam was temporarily excluded for bullying. Alvie was going to have a nice two weeks without Liam.

She was walking home on her own, Alvie having stayed behind to have one-to-one Math tutorial session.

Sliding her key into the lock, she smiled. With her help, Alvie's grade had gone up from an F to a D in Math.

"Crystal, baby!" Crystal's mother joy bounced over and crushed the life out of her in a greeting hug. "How was school, sweetie? Learn anything?"

"Apparently not. I've got to go back tomorrow." Crystal's mother laughed.

Crystal loved her mother. She was called Joy and they could have been sisters, they were so identical. Except that Joy was a few inches taller than her daughter and more hyperactive. Joy lived up to her name, always smiling and laughing while also very excitable.

"So, how was school then?" Joy repeated.

"Well, I got called to the principal's office…"

"Again? Oh, Crystal, I knew you were trouble." Joy teased, waving a mocking accusing finger at her. Crystal smiled.

"No, it's just this jerk was being mean to Alvie, chucking water over him. There was some water left so I threw it over the jerk." Crystal explained what happened again. "I don't get it, Mom. Alvie won't stand up for himself, but when Liam didn't let go, Alvie floored him. Oh no, you've got that look. What are you thinking?"

"I think he likes you!" Joy exclaimed happily, practically bouncing in joy and hyperactivity.

"Mom, we're just friends."

"Oh, _sure_…"

"Mom…" Crystal warned.

"Tell me more about Alvie." Joy insisted, pulling up a bar stool at the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen. She put her elbows on the table and propped her head up on her hands, her silvery-blue eyes shining in excitement.

"Mom, I've told you about Alvie." Crystal sighed, smiling.

"No, you haven't!" Joy protested, whining. Crystal shot her the Look. "Ok, you've told me a bit, but not everything. Sit and talk, _now_." Crystal reluctantly obeyed. "Right, so what's he like?"

"He's great."

"Have I seen him before?"

"No."

"What does he look like then? Is he cute?"

"Mom!"

"Tell me what he looks like!" Joy beamed.

"Uh… he has really dark black hair, but there's this grey streak he said he was born with."

"Has he got blue eyes?"

"No, grey."

"Grey?"

"Like, um, silver-grey kind of colour."

"Ooh, that sounds interesting. What else? Is he sporty or scrawny?"

"In the middle." Crystal said carefully.

"How does he dress?"

"Casually. Why are you asking so many questions?"

"I'm being socially aware."

"Nosy, Mom."

"It's not nosy, it's socially aware!" Joy scolded playfully. Crystal rolled her eyes. "Oy, don't you roll your eyes at me."

"Mom, you can't tell me off, you're too nice."

"I know, I know. Now more about Alvie."

"Really?"

"I thought you were his friend?"

"Yes, _friend_. Not stalker."

"A friend should know this stuff about him. What does he do in his free time?"

"Oh, I don't know. Let me check the CCTV I've installed in his room." Crystal said sarcastically. Joy pulled a face at her. "He probably reads or something."

"So, he's smart."

"In a way. He doesn't seem to get Math that well."

"You could help him with that."

"I am."

"Good girl. What does he read?"

"Harry Potter and some other stuff."

"What's he like to you?"

"He's… really sweet. A bit shy though."

"Ooh, I want to meet him. Invite him over."

"Mom!"

"What? Wait, is he nice?"

"Yes." Crystal paused. "He's a bit of gentleman as well." She said slowly and carefully, predicting her mother's reaction.

"Ohmygod, tell me more!"

"Well, he, uh, opens doors for me and carries my stuff." Joy smiled happily. "He'll walk me to class as well, even if it makes him later."

"That's it. Invite him over. Now."

"Mom-"

"If you don't do it, I will."

"What about William?" Joy gave a sound of annoyance and mocked throttling her daughter.

"Who cares? If he sees how nice Alvie is, he might lighten up a bit." Crystal scoffed.

"William? Lighten up? Oh please."

William was Crystal's stepfather. Her real dad had wandered off somewhere shortly after she was born. William had turned up in her life when she was two, but she had never liked him. He was spiteful and deceiving. Joy knew that, but was too nice to do anything.

_Or too scared_. Crystal thought bitterly. William was possessive and controlling and liked things his way.

"Go. And. Invite. Him." Joy ordered, rolling up a magazine and playfully beating her daughter up with it.

"Alright, alright, I'm going." Crystal laughed, running out of the kitchen with her mother on her heels, the magazine raised threateningly.

* * *

"Oy, Alvie, it's for you. Wait, who is it?"

"Percy, you're not allowed to answer the phone." Annabeth scolded lightly.

"I wasn't stupid this time."

"Wow. This time?"

"Oh shut up." Percy smiled. "Alvie! Get your ass over here and talk to your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh really?"

"She's a friend that's a girl."

"Then why are you blushing?"

"Away!" Annabeth shooed Percy away, snatching the phone from him. "Ignore your dad, Alvie." She smiled kindly.

"I do that anyway."

"Good boy." Annabeth handed over the phone and left him to talk while she went to beat her husband up (again).

"Hi, Crystal."

"Hi. Mom's threatening me with a magazine to invite you over."

"Oh. Um…" Alvie looked around for his parents. Judging by Percy's laughter and mock pleas for help, Annabeth was pretending to strangle him in the kitchen. "Hold on a sec." He put the phone on the side and went to talk to his parents.

"When?" Annabeth asked. Alvie shrugged. "Oh, you're as helpful as your father. Go and found out when, where and what time does she want you there and so on and so forth." Alvie nodded and left again.

It took ten minutes to arrange Alvie to go to Crystal's on Saturday, stay the night and return Sunday morning. Annabeth had a chat with Crystal's mother for about an hour before handing the phone back to Alvie so he could talk to Crystal.

"You'll be fine, Alvie." Annabeth assured. She had met Crystal before, seeing as Alvie's friend had been round quite a few times after school for dinner while her parents were working. Annabeth was relieved her son had found someone decent to hang out with, someone that helped him with Math and someone who could coax him out his shell.

"So, you're spending all day Saturday with me…" Crystal teased.

"I don't think I'm going to last that long." Crystal giggled.

"See, you do have a sense of humour."

"Meh."

* * *

**This is the seventh page, all made up on the spot. Woo! :D **


	9. Sleepover

Alvie was having trouble believing that he had actually been asked around someone's house.

Obviously he was going to panic.

"Alvie, you'll be fine." Annabeth assured. Alvie didn't say anything. He didn't want to screw up in front of Crystal's parents and he especially didn't want to screw up in front of Crystal. Thanks to the bullies, Alvie didn't really have friends, which meant he hadn't been around anyone's house, other than relatives, obviously. "Alvie, look at me." Alvie glanced up, his eyes lingering on his mother's for a second, before he dropped his gaze. Annabeth sighed and ruffled his hair. "You better get ready. You're leaving in an hour."

"And you haven't even had a shower." Percy added, appearing out of nowhere. "Heh, rhyme."

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth made to hit him, but Percy dodged and grabbed Alvie.

"Hostage." Percy claimed, putting a finger gun to Alvie's head. "Ransom of blue cookies."

"Alright, alright, you're hungry. There're blue cookies in the cupboard at the top."

"Thanks." Percy grinned. He took Alvie with him, keeping him hostage with the 'gun' at his head. "Want one?" Percy asked, getting the cookie jar down and holding it out to his son. Alvie hesitated. Percy never shared blue cookies, but they were nice. "Go on, before I change my mind."

"Thanks Dad." Alvie said, taking one in each hand. Percy blinked at him. Alvie watched him carefully.

"Good boy." Percy finally said, smiling. Alvie returned the smile, biting into the cookie. "Go and get ready. You now have fifty eight minutes."

* * *

Fight seven minutes and forty two seconds later, Alvie was walking out to the car with his father. Percy was a bit hyper, seeing as he had had a dozen or so cookies before Annabeth had managed to confiscate the jar.

"Have I met this Crystal?" Percy asked, starting the engine. Alvie put his seat belt on before replying.

"That girl that was with me when you got called in 'cos of those guys."

"Okey dokey then." Percy smiled reassuringly at Alvie. "Well then, let's get going." Alvie handed over the bit of paper with Crystal's address on and Percy put it into the sat-nav. Do not trust an ADHD demigod son of Poseidon to drive and follow a map or directions from his wife. It had to be a sat-nav. Mainly because it didn't get angry at him like Annabeth did for missing a turn fourth time in a row.

* * *

"Out."

"Mmm…" Alvie hummed uncertainly.

"Want me to come with you?" Alvie nodded slowly, glancing at his father appreciatively. They got out, Percy holding Alvie's rucksack. They jogged up the stairs to the town house and Percy rang the doorbell. He liked it instantly, hearing the doorbell ring inside, but it wasn't a normal doorbell- it rang and it sounded like a chorus of hyperactive monkeys.

"Crystal, that bloody doorbell!"

"Sorry Mom!" The door opened and Crystal smiled at them. "Hi, Alvie!" She grinned.

"Hi."

"Are you OK? You look a bit peaky." She held his face in her hands, pinching his cheeks. Percy smirked.

"He's just nervous." There was a curious meow. Percy looked down and saw a black cat staring at him with vibrant green eyes.

"The cat's got eyes like you, Dad." Alvie said quietly.

"That's Pebble. She's my cat." Crystal clicked her fingers. Pebble looked round as Crystal held her hands out. The cat jumped into Crystal's arms and rubbed her cheek against Crystal's affectionately, purring happily.

"Aren't black cats unlucky?" Alvie asked.

"Some people think so. We don't."

"Witch." Percy said. "Oh sh- didn't mean to say that, sorry."

"It's alright. We've had that before from our God-is-amazing neighbour." Pebble looked at Alvie with her green eyes, unexpectedly jumping at him and winding around his neck, getting comfortable across his shoulders. "Oh, she does that. I think she likes you."

A man appeared behind Crystal. He was taller than Percy by three inches at least with dark brown-red hair and pale brown eyes. He had a fairly square jaw and a tough complexion that matched his muscular build. He wore jeans and a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up as if he had just returned from work at an office.

"So this is Alvie." The man regarded Alvie for a few seconds before turning to Percy. He held his hand out in greeting. "William Murphy."

"Percy Jackson." Percy smiled, shaking William's hand. He remembered Crystal now. "Thanks for having Alvie."

"That's alright." William said bluntly. Percy noticed the lack of enthusiasm in William's voice but was distracted by a woman who could only be Crystal's mother appearing next to William.

"Hi!" She beamed. She was an older and taller version of Crystal. "Oh my gosh, I love your eyes!" She told Percy.

"Um, thanks."

"Mom, don't scare them away." Crystal smiled. She looked at Alvie. "Mom's a bit loopy."

"You should meet my aunt then." Alvie said instantly. Percy grinned proudly.

"Why are they still on the doorstep? Where're your manners, Crystal?" Crystal's mom was a bubbly person, putting on an angry look that was obviously acted.

"Where are your manners, Mom? You haven't said your name."

"Oh yeah! I'm Joy."

"Percy."

"Alvie."

"Oh wow! I love your eyes as well! Come in, come in." Joy waved them all in.

"I better go." Percy said, handing Alvie his rucksack. Pebble shifted and meowed, jumping down from Alvie's shoulders and winding around Percy's legs. "Thanks again for having him."

"Oh, that's alright." Joy waved it off, more enthusiastic than her husband. "He's adorable!"

"Adorable?" Alvie repeated, looking confused.

"Yes, adorable." Joy pinched Alvie's cheeks playfully, moving his head from side to side. "I might have to adopt you."

"Mom…" Crystal warned, her cheeks fading pink.

"I'm just teasing, sweetie." Joy hugged her daughter, laughing. Percy ruffled Alvie's hair.

"Any problems, just ring, alright?" Alvie nodded and watched his father go, waving as Percy drove off.

Crystal dragged Alvie in and gave him a tour of her home with Joy, the bubbly mother who made everything so much easier and more fun to do.

"Dinner will be ready in about an hour." Joy beamed. "How about you show Alvie the surprise room you had planned?"

"Oh, yeah. Nearly forgot about that. Duh…" Crystal pulled a face, indicating her own stupidity. She grabbed Alvie's hand and pulled him away. "Come on, you. You'll like this one."

Crystal took him to the top floor and opened one of the two doors at the top of the stairs on the small landing. "You like?" Crystal smirked.

The whole room was full of books. Shelves, tables, chairs- everything was here to make this library comfortable. A proud, dark wood mantelpiece with intricate carvings stood to the right, a pile of logs set and ready for burning. "Hellooo… Alvie?" Crystal waved her hand in his face and he blinked, pulling himself together. He smiled at her.

"This is so cool." He grinned.

* * *

"Mom, Alvie's borrowing a few books."

"If that's OK." Alvie added quickly.

"Of course it is, sweetie!" Joy smiled warmly.

"Thank you."

"Lunch will be ready in ten. Crystal, be a good girl and set the table."

"Good girl?" Crystal echoed. "Mom, I'm not five." Joy patted Crystal's cheek, smiling.

"Go. Or starve."

"I'll help." Alvie offered. Crystal smiled at him.

"You're alright." She told him. Alvie shook his head and insisted.

Lunch was roast chicken and an assortment of vegetables. Alvie sat next to Crystal while her parents sat on the adjoining sides, one at either end.

"I hear you were both in the principal's office. Twice this week." William announced monotonously. "Why was that?"

"I told you-" Crystal started.

"I'm asking Alfie." Alvie wasn't paying attention, watching Joy put a chicken leg on his plate.

"Alvie." Crystal corrected before looking at her friend. She nudged him to get his attention. Alvie looked round curiously. Crystal nodded in William's direction, redirecting Alvie's attention again.

"Why were you sent to the principal's office?"

"Um… some kids were, uh…" Crystal took his hand under the table, offering silent assurance. "Some kids were being jerks and, uh, I reacted."

"Reacted how?" William asked as Joy set Alvie's dinner in front of him. He barely noticed though, aware of Crystal's warm, soft hand in his. It was very distracting, but in a nice way.

"William, you're not very good at ice-breaking, are you?" Joy smiled. Crystal noticed that her mother had seen Alvie's hesitation at William's interrogation. "Alvie likes reading. Ask him about that."

"Reading? What about sports?" Alvie shook his head.

"My brothers are the sporty ones." He said quietly.

"What sports do they do then?"

"Um, loads. Basketball, ice hockey, swimming, diving and, uh, some others." Crystal squeezed his hand under the table to reassure him again. He had spoken in mumbles. He only did that, as she had noticed, when he was nervous or uncomfortable.

"You look like a runner." William commented, narrowing his eyes at Alvie. "Do you do track?" Alvie didn't respond immediately, his eyes fixing on the gravy jug, the salt and pepper shakers and the jar of extra cutlery.

Without thinking, he dropped Crystal's hand and rearranged the objects in height order.

"Alvie, are you OK?" Alvie studied the rearranged objects for a few seconds before looking at Crystal.

"I'm OK." He said quietly, not holding her gaze.

"So, Alvie." Joy said, smiling to ease the tension. "What books do you read?"

* * *

Crystal noticed that Alvie rearranged quite a few objects into height order- books, ornaments and the likes. She asked him if he was OCD, but he said 'no'. She didn't question him after that.

"OK, this is my room. There's a spare mattress you can sleep on tonight." Alvie nodded, looking around her room. It was a very stylish room, not girly at all, but very tidy. It was sleek, with a mahogany bedstead. The duvet was navy blue with alternating thick and thin black stripes, like a barcode. The wall behind the bed was white, decorated with black canvas prints with blue flowers on either side of the bed. The adjoining wall and the wall opposite that were deep sea blue. The curtains were white with wavy blue and black lines with a matching lamp shade. A magnificent mahogany wardrobe stood in each corner of the left wall as they walked in. Directly in the middle of the two wardrobes was a matching chest of drawers with a cluster of framed photos on top with a majestic, dark wood mirror hanging above it. The carpet was black- knowing Crystal, to hide the dirt. But there was a spotless, white, fluffy, semi-circle rug at the end of the bed with a low, mahogany, double-door cupboard on it, pressed against the end of the bed. On top of the cupboard was a small, flat screen TV. Alvie later found out that the cupboard housed Crystal's PS3 console, games and controllers. **(Effie Trinket would love this room- all that mahogany…) **

Crystal smiled at him. "What do you think?"

"It's so cool." Alvie grinned. He pointed at the blank wall space above her bed. "You could graffiti your name there. Use black and light blue spray paint." Crystal looked at the space, visualising his suggestion.

"I'll have to talk to Mom about that. Hey, are you any good at Zombies?"

"Zombies?"

"Yeah, on Call of Duty Black Ops."

"Kino?" Alvie smiled.

"Let's do this." She grinned.

* * *

For a girl, she was pretty good at killing zombies- almost as good as Alvie. And she was a true gamer girl, cursing zombies if they hit her or if her gun ran out of ammo when she needed it most.

They played through all the maps; from Kino to Ascension, including Dead Ops.

By the time they turned it off, it was nearing ten at night.

"I'm hungry." Crystal announced. She scrambled up and around to her bed, kneeling and reaching under it. She pulled out a box of crisps **(chips to you Americans)**, chocolate bars, bottles of water, packets of marshmallows and three packets of chocolate digestives.

"Sugar gives you nightmares." Alvie said. Crystal waved it off and told him to help himself.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door; a very enthusiastic, yet light knock.

"Mom, is that you?" Crystal smiled.

"Hiya!" Joy sang. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah." Joy entered.

"Ohmygodchocciebiccet!"

"Mom, breathe."

"Gimme!" Alvie held the packet up and Joy eagerly and greedily took the lot. "You've been holding out on me." Joy whined, pointing accusingly at her daughter. She stuck her bottom lip out in a mock sulk.

"Mom, you can have the rest." Crystal laughed softly.

"Oh goodie!" Joy beamed. "So, Alvie, you OK? Crystal isn't being mean, is she?"

"No, she's cool."

"Let me know if she's trouble."

"I'm not trouble."

"You are." Alvie and Joy said together.

"Why are you ganging up on me? It's not fair!" Crystal protested, folding her arms and hunching her shoulders, sulking.

"If the wind changes direction, your face will stay like that." Joy teased in a sing-song voice. Crystal smiled. "Much better." She pulled a chocolate digestive from the packet. "Now," She said through chocolate biscuit, pointing at them with her biscuit between her middle and ring fingers and her thumb, "lights out at eleven. No loud noises or music after that."

"If I give you another packet of choccie biccets, can we stay up until half past?" Crystal asked sweetly.

"What makes you think I can be bribed so easily?" Crystal held up an unopened packet of chocolate biscuits, smirking. "Ooh, alright. But no later." Joy took the biscuits and turned to leave.

"Thanks, Mom." Joy waggled her fingers at them and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Crystal found herself waking up about two. She frowned up at the glow-in-the-dark stars on her ceiling for a short while before rolling onto her side to check on Alvie.

She was surprised to find him wide awake and sitting up. He was reading from a Kindle that had a built in nightlight.

"Alvie?" She didn't get a response, but when he was reading, she didn't expect to. "Oy. Alvie." She poked his shoulder and he looked round. "What are you doing up?" In the light from his Kindle, he looked exhausted.

"Can't sleep." He replied quietly.

"Well put the bloody Kindle down." Alvie locked the screen and tucked the electronic in his rucksack. "Now lie down." He lay down; his grey eyes almost raven in the darkness of the room. "And go to sleep." He just stared at her. "Annnd… go to sleep." She flicked her fingers at him as if he would fall asleep instantly. "Go to sleep."

"It doesn't work like that." He smiled.

"Do you have trouble sleeping anyway?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "I let my sleeping tablets at home though."

"That was clever." He hummed in agreement. "I know something that can help." She smiled, forcing herself to leave the warm bed. "Come on." He got up and followed her downstairs and into the kitchen. "Mom has trouble sleeping as well sometimes. She uses this." Crystal put a box on the counter and looked at him, placing her hands on her hips.

"Tea." Alvie said, unimpressed. He looked at her in disbelief. "Why will tea help me sleep?"

"_Herbal_ tea. Safer than sleeping tablets and less addictive."

"Right."

"Try it." Crystal insisted. When she next spoke, her tone was bitter. "William will hit the roof if you fall asleep during his interrogation of you tomorrow at breakfast." Alvie looked at her curiously.

"You don't like him." He stated.

"Of course I don't. He's a… well, I've got so many mean words about him; I don't know where to start." Alvie smiled weakly. "Look, Alvie drink tea, Alvie go sleepy time and Alvie no be sleepy in morning."

"Make… Crystal… happy?" He asked haltingly, frowning as he tried to pick up her forced, false, cave-man-style speaking pattern.

"Alvie drink tea and make Crystal very happy." He nodded and Crystal set about making him a tea.

* * *

Alvie did sleep and he seemed more relaxed in the morning. He made a mental note to tell his mother about the herbal tea.

"I told you- ow- herbal tea would- _ow_- help."

"You're trying to rip your hair out."

"I'm fine." She smiled at him in the mirror, tugging the hair brush through her tangled hair. "Ow…" She complained. Alvie moved forward and eased the brush from her grip. He brushed her hair for her, easing the tangles out and not nearly ripping her hair out like she had been.

Her hair was soft, silky and warm and Alvie easily fashioned it into a French plait, taking a blue hair band from the surface of the drawer in front of her.

Crystal gingerly felt her hair, checking her reflection in the mirror. "You read, you're funny (sometimes), you're a good interior decorator and you can do a girl's hair." She looked at him in amusement. "Can you cook?" He shrugged.

"Some stuff."

"Oh, you just get better and better. Now out, I need to get changed." Alvie obediently left and she closed the door behind him.

Alvie did not expect to see William outside.

"Hi." Alvie said nervously. William just grunted, grabbing Alvie's arm and dragging him down the landing, out of earshot of Crystal's room. William's fingers dug into his arm in an iron grip. Alvie didn't say anything or make any protest at the pain.

"You stay away from Crystal." William snarled, shoving him away. "There is something different about you, something that doesn't sit right with me." William was right in Alvie's face, anger coursing through his body.

"I- what did I do?"

"You're too close to Crystal. You're just another boy and you'll end up hurting her."

"I won't."

"Prove me wrong then." William growled. "Until you do, however, you'll always be a stupid, disgusting little brat who belongs in the gutter." With each word, William sharply prodded Alvie in the chest. "You _sicken _me. Get out of my sight." Alvie stared at him for a few seconds before stumbling away.

"Alvie, are you OK?" Crystal asked, opening her door to his knocking. "You don't look that well." She felt his forehead and frowned. "You feel fine. What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Alvie lied, mumbling, feeling William's glare on him.

"I'll call your mom." Crystal sighed. She took his hand and led him into her room, ordering him to sit on the bed.

* * *

"Have fun then, bud?" Percy asked, glancing at Alvie in the rear view mirror. Alvie didn't reply, staring out of the window. Percy looked at his wife in the shotgun seat. She had half-turned in her seat and was watching Alvie worriedly.

"Has something happened? Did you and Crystal argue?" Again, Alvie didn't say anything. "Alvie?" She reached back and put a warm hand on his knee. His eyes flickered and he looked at her. "What's the matter?" She asked softly. Alvie just stared out of the window again. "Percy, pull over." Percy did. "Alvie, if something's happened, I want to know before we get home." Alvie watched the cars passing by, noticing a light patter of rain starting to fall on his window. It gradually increased and Percy flicked on the windscreen wipers. "Alvie, sweetie, talk to us. That's what we're here for."

"Nothing." Alvie said. "I just want to go home." Annabeth glanced at Percy. He turned off the ignition, sat back in his seat and folded his arms stubbornly.

"I'm not driving anywhere until you tell us what happened." Alvie rested his forehead against the cool glass, closing his eyes and listening to the patter of raindrops.

Percy stuck to his word and they ended up sitting there for half an hour. He only changed his mind when Tobias rang, asking where they were. He was keeping an eye on his younger siblings with Sophia and Vicky, but the triplets were getting worried that their parents hadn't come home.

"We'll be home in a minute."

"Is everything OK? Why'd you pick him up early?"

"We don't know. He's not talking." Tobias sighed.

"I'll talk to him when you get home, if you want." He offered. Annabeth smiled.

"You can try. Thanks Tobias."

"Anytime, Mom." Tobias cut off. Percy held his hand out to her, smiling reassuringly. Annabeth laced her fingers with his.

"Last chance, Alvie." She said, looking in the rear view mirror at her son. Was he sleeping? No, his eyes were open slightly.

When Alvie didn't move or speak, Percy started the car and began driving home.

Alvie noticed his parents' linked hands and remembered how Crystal had held his hand last night to support and comfort him. He felt the phantom touch of her hand on his. It brightened his mood slightly.

* * *

**OK, this is a very long chapter, 3000+ words, so why don't you, oh, I don't know, REVIEW PLEASE! :D **

**And for Tobias's story, I'm going to do up to 130 chapters, if I can, but that's only if you guys put forward ideas that you want to see in Tophia's life and things as such. I will use what I can- the extra chapters will be like one-shots of some things in the main story. **


	10. Creepy!

**Don't forget to vote on the poll! It closes on the 12****th****.**

* * *

Crystal had tried ever since she met Alvie six months ago to get him to stand up to the bullies and he always said he would try, but when it came to it, he would clam up and let the bullies taunt and throw things at him. Crystal reacted more than he did and gained some self-pride following a rant she had at the bullies during the last week of school before the summer holidays:

"Oh, grow a pair, will you?!"

"Me? What about him?" Liam protested, gesturing at Alvie.

"He doesn't need to!"

"He does nothing! He doesn't react to us 'cos he's a dumbass!"

"You're a dumbass!" The bully made to argue back, aware of everyone in the corridor watching, but Crystal was on a roll. "Alvie doesn't respond because you're not worth his time! You only respond because it makes you feel like the bigger man, but Alvie doesn't want to step down to your level of idiocy by reacting to whatever shit you throw his way 'cos you'll beat him with experience! Grow a bloody pair, leave Alvie alone and get your head out of your ass!" Liam and everyone in the corridor were in a stunned silence, but Crystal didn't care, turning on her heel and briskly storming off.

"That one," Tobias beamed, pointing enthusiastically after Crystal before turning his grin to Alvie. "You need that one."

"You haven't had your ADHD stuff, have you?" Sophia asked carefully. Tobias shook his head, smiling innocently. "Great… we get to put up with you acting like bloody Jack Sparrow."

"_Captain_ Jack Sparrow." Tobias corrected, mimicking Jack's actions. Sophia rolled her eyes, looking at Alvie. He was staring in the direction Crystal went. Did he go after her or give her time to cool off and then go?

He decided to go, considering she had shut Liam up for him.

Ten minutes later, Alvie found her kicking a rock about near the football pitch.

"Crystal!" She looked round, a smile breaking through her anger at the sight of him. She held her arms out to him as he approached. "Are you OK?" Alvie asked, returning her hug.

"I'm OK. Trying to see what the most violent way to kill Liam is." Alvie looked at her worriedly. "I'm joking." She laughed softly. "For now…" She added quietly, giving an evil smile.

"I worry about you sometimes."

"Mom said I'll make a good assassin."

"Please don't be an assassin."

"Why? Afraid that I'll kill you?" He shook his head, surprising her. "No? Why then?" He hesitated.

"You could get hurt." He mumbled.

"Aw, you're so sweet." She held his face in her hands, smiling. "Don't worry about me, Alvie, OK?" He didn't respond, holding her gaze for a few seconds before looking down. Crystal hugged him again. "I'm hungry. Can we go and get lunch?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Leaving the canteen, fed and watered, half an hour later, Crystal had calmed down and was trying to persuade Alvie to let her carry her stuff.

"I'm not physically incapable of carrying my bag, Alvie."

"I know. I'm just trying to help." He opened a door for her.

"If only more guys were as helpful as you." Alvie looked down. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." He replied quietly. Crystal had noticed that there were moments where he was quieter than usual, as if something was playing on his mind. She had tried to get him to talk, but he fell silent and didn't hold a normal conversation with her until she changed the topic.

They were interrupted by one of Liam's friends storming towards them like a charging bull. Before Crystal could register what was going on, Liam's friend (Bill) had Alvie pinned to the wall with a giant, meaty hand at his throat. Everything Alvie had been holding fell to the floor as Alvie pulled on Bill's hand.

"Hello, dumbass."

"Leave him alone!" Crystal exclaimed angrily. She pulled on Bill's arm, but he simply knocked her aside, making her land on her bum.

Alvie reacted then, raising his knee to his chest and landing a solid kick to Bill's stomach.

Bill staggered back, freeing Alvie who dropped to the ground, massaging his throat.

"Git!" Bill shouted, bunching his fists. He took a step towards Alvie, with clear intentions to pummel the smaller boy into pulp.

"No!" Alvie growled. For the first time, Crystal saw anger settling into her friend's expression and it surprised her as much as it bought her a smug sense of pride- yeah, she was a great help in Math and a confidence builder.

Bill looked bewildered. Alvie was known for not fighting back. But Bill had hit Crystal away, flooring her. Was it that Alvie didn't care what happened to him as long as his best friend was OK?

Alvie held Bill's gaze. "Why'd you do it?"

"D-do what?" Alvie frowned and glowered at Bill. The bully understood what he was getting at- why did he pick on Alvie?

Alvie helped Crystal to her feet before looking back at Bill. There was a knowing fire in his eyes. Crystal had seen that a few times before and every time she had seen it, she had called Alvie 'psychic'.

"It's a mask." Bill looked confused. "You pick on kids like me to make you feel better about yourself, but there's something going on. You're scared of something but you put on a mask, making you seem strong and brave." Alvie studied Bill's face, noticing the shock and horror in his features. The kids in the hall all had similar expressions, but their expressions were all mixed with awe and bewilderment.

Alvie rubbed at his forehead with the back of his hand, frowning. "It's your dad. There's eight of you, your mom's heavily pregnant and your dad sits on his ass all day, drinking cheap beer and giving his orders out." Alvie looked pained. Crystal noticed that his eyes seemed paler, more eerie. "You've got daddy issues." Alvie stated simply.

Bill looked terrified out of his wits, but he also looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "Right or wrong?" Alvie asked him.

"H-how…" Bill was trying to keep his breathing steady, taking a few steps back as if to create a distance between him and the kid that was seriously freaking him out. "How do… how do you know that?" Alvie was still rubbing at his forehead, massaging a headache. He wore a grimace, which had Crystal's worry piquing.

Alvie didn't answer Bill's question as the principal turned up.

"What's going on?" He demanded, confusion settling in at the shocked students, the petrified bully and the pained Alvie. This was not what he normally walked in on- normally, it was Alvie being strangled or pinned down while kids went through his stuff and called him names.

* * *

Alvie was picked up early, having come down with a massive headache and sickness. Before he left, Crystal got a few minutes to talk to his mother.

"It was really creepy, like he had read Bill's mind." Annabeth frowned slightly, glancing at her son through the window. He was in the car while she talked to Crystal outside, the doors of the car shut. Alvie's eyes were cloudy and it was clear he was away with the fairies. "Has he always been like that?" Crystal asked. **(1234 words not including this bit). **Annabeth sighed.

"Yeah."

"Why?" Annabeth hesitated, glancing at Crystal. It was a demigod thing. Could she tell Crystal without the girl shunning Alvie for being different?

"I'm not sure." Annabeth turned to get in the car, but froze upon Crystal's next words.

"His eyes changed colour."

"What colour?"

"It was only a bit, but they were getting lighter."

"Right." Annabeth didn't sound happy with that, studying her son worriedly. He was staring at her, but he wasn't looking at her, in a different world.

He blinked and his eyes cleared. Alvie looked confused at his mother's worried expression. Crystal examined his eyes, noticing that they were the same silvery-grey that she had quickly grown to love. She noticed Annabeth had the same eyes, except hers were wiser and sharper.

Alvie turned his head and looked at Crystal. He put his hand against the glass and she gave a small smile through her worry, placing her hand on the window over his. She was aware of Annabeth watching them, but the mother didn't say anything and Crystal didn't particularly care.

"I should get him home." Annabeth eventually said softly.

"OK." Crystal nodded, looking back at Alvie. "Call me, OK?" She said. Alvie studied her lips as she talked, nodding and giving a silent promise to phone her later.

* * *

"Stay away from that kid, Crystal." William grunted. Crystal angered while Joy looked stricken.

"He's my friend! You can't tell me who to hang out with!" William looked up from his meal, fixing her with a steely glare.

"I can and I have. That boy is… there's something wrong with him."

"There's nothing wrong with him!" William scoffed. "Why don't you like him? What did he do to you?"

"He hasn't."

"Well shut up and stop judging people! So what if he's different from other kids? He's a great guy and I wouldn't change him for anyone!"

"Stay. Away. From. Him." William growled.

"No. You can't make me."

"Why is he so special to you then, Crystal? Huh? This freaky kid with apparent mind-reading crap."

"He is not a freak!"

"Why do you like him so much?!" William demanded, his knuckles white from holding his knife and fork tightly.

"Because he is the one guy that treats me like a person instead of trying to see what they can get! He's nice; he listens to me when I've got problems; he makes me smile; he's always a gentleman, opening doors, carrying my stuff for me and walking me to class; he doesn't belittle me like the other guys and he'll stick up for me, but won't stick up for himself."

"That's him valuing you over himself." Joy added. She looked at her husband. "I wouldn't want Crystal hanging around with those rough kids at that school. She'll fall in with a bad crowd. Alvie's from a nice family, he's a good kid and I love seeing the two together, they just make each other so happy."

"I don't want you seeing Alvie again." William said with a tone of finality, returning to his dinner and acting as if neither of them had spoken.

"Oh, you're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do."

"Not your dad? Does it matter? Your dad ran off before you were born and it's me that's worked hard to put a roof over your head, clothes on your back and food on the table! You're an ungrateful little brat that can't see I'm doing something for your own good!"

"You're not doing it for my own good! You just hate seeing me happy!" William struggled for a response in his anger. "Why don't you follow in my dad's footsteps and bloody well bog off?!" Crystal snapped, getting up and storming out.

"Crystal!" Joy shouted after her.

Crystal reached her room and slammed the door shut as loudly as she could.

She wanted to throw things- break things- but that would never work. It would only upset her mother and cause another row between her and William.

_Alvie_.

He could always calm her down. She would rant to him and he would just listen and do his best to calm her down and cheer her up.

Collapsing on her bed, she grabbed her cell phone and dialled Alvie's number.

"Hi, Crystal."

"Hi."

"You don't sound happy."

"I'm not."

"What's happened?" Crystal told him everything.

She was so grateful to him. Why did William want her away from him?


	11. Don't be late for a cinema trip

**Don't forget to vote, people. The poll closes tomorrow night. This will be a short chapter as I am ending it on a cliff hanger, (obviously), but I'm going to drag the ideas over several chapters, hopefully. If you're nice to review and vote, I'll try and not be mean… in future chapters…**

* * *

"Mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Crystal checked for William first.

"Can I go to the cinema with Alvie?" Joy looked around for her husband as well.

"When?"

"Tomorrow?"

"What time?"

"About eleven."

"OK then. How much do you need?"

"Mom, I can pay for it."

"No, no, no, I'll pay for you."

"Mom-"

"Ssh!" Joy smiled. "Don't want you paying for your own date now, do we?"

"It's not a date!" Crystal protested, feeling her cheeks burn.

"Then why've you gone so red?" Joy teased.

"Ugh…" Crystal collapsed on her bed and didn't move. Her mother laughed. "Mom, I can pay for a cinema ticket. It's fine."

"Not out of your allowance."

"Mom-"

"I'll stop your allowance for a month if you don't stop arguing."

"Really?"

"Um… I'll halve it." Crystal smirked. "What? I don't want my baby going without."

"Mom, I'm eleven!"

"You're still my baby." Joy smiled.

"Is it a mother's job to embarrass their children?"

"Of course it is! We wouldn't have any fun otherwise!" Crystal rolled her eyes at her mother. "Cheeky moo. Ring Alvie and get your date sorted."

"It's not a date!"

"Oh, yes it is!" Joy sang.

"Oh no it's not!"

* * *

They had their cinema trip planned for a week and Crystal had been so excited to spend the day with Alvie (it was _not_ a date) that she had lost track of time that morning and was now running late. Crystal wasn't having a good day as it was and was now she was literally running to make up for lost time. By 'not having a good day', she meant that William was demanding she made breakfast as Joy was out at work as a counsellor and Crystal had to come up with some excuse to get out of the house. William wasn't happy with that.

She was trying to ring Alvie but his phone was off, damn him. As she wasn't looking where she was going, she collided with someone and fell backwards. Someone grabbed her by the wrist before she hit the ground.

"Crystal? Where are you going?" Crystal looked up and saw Alvie's older brother, Max. She pulled her hand free.

"I'm late." For some reason, Max's friends snickered. Even Max smirked. "Look, I'm supposed to be meeting Alvie at the cinema and I'm running late, so move."

"You want us to move?" One of Max's friends asked, sauntering forward and sneaking sideway glances at his mates.

"No, I want you to bloody tap dance. Yes, just move!" The guy grabbed her by her upper arm and shoved his face in hers. There was a faint stench of alcohol on his breath, making her recoil slightly.

"You want to watch that tongue, missy." He snarled. Crystal tried to pull out of his grip, but he wasn't as lenient as Max.

Unexpectedly, he let go, shoving her slightly at the same time, and she staggered back into the road.

It all happened so horribly and sickeningly fast.

A horn blared, the flash of an oncoming red car and then a shove from behind, a screech of brakes followed by a sickening thud.

Crystal had landed on the pavement, out of the car's way. Pain flared in her left wrist, but that was the least of her concerns.

Alvie had pushed her out the way and was now lying on his side, blood pooling onto the floor from a gash in his head.

"Alvie…" She hurried to his side as the shell-shocked driver got out the car.

"Don't move him." The driver mumbled. "Someone ring an ambulance!"

"Alvie, no… no, no, no…" Crystal was aware of a ruckus and a lot of shouting behind her, but she didn't listen, her main and obvious concern Alvie's current, injured state. Her vision tunnelled until it was just her and Alvie, the world around her blurred and muffled.

* * *

**And cliffy! **


	12. Reaction

**The poll is closed! If you didn't vote, I DID TELL YOU! Anyway, I had some very interesting death threats for the last chapter and two people threatened to drown me in my own blood. I also posted those death threats on Facebook for the amusement of my friends ('friends' and friends).**

* * *

Tobias had caught up with the fleeing gang, snatching his brother from the crowd. Tobias didn't care at that point, his anger getting the better of him. He slammed Max against the wall, his hands at his throat. Max pulled pathetically at his fingers.

"Why did you do that?!" He demanded.

"I… I d-didn't p-p-push him…"

"It was your bloody friends! I told you they were trouble, but you didn't fucking listen to me! Now look what's happened!"

"I- I'm s-s-sorry…"

"Sorry doesn't help Alvie!" Tobias growled, his fingers tightening. Max choked, still trying to free himself. Kane and the others were long gone, but Tobias would track them down later and then there would be hell to pay.

Max had started turning blue when someone wrestled Tobias away. Max crumpled to the floor, choking and coughing, breathing in raggedly. Tobias was floored and pinned down, someone pulling his hands behind his back. It took him a few seconds in his anger to realise the police had arrived and had put him in hand cuffs. He tried to get up, but someone was there to pin him down. Tobias noticed Max being checked over by a police medic before someone recognised him and put him in hand cuffs as well. Max's so-called 'friends' and 'brothers' had escaped, leaving Max to pick up the pieces and go to jail for the crimes they forced him to do.

Tobias was hauled to his feet as two police officers flanking Max marched past. Tobias tried to break free of those restraining him and Max flinched, but Tobias was manhandled into the back of a police car, Max cooperating and sitting in the back of another.

* * *

Crystal went with Alvie in the ambulance. The paramedic had cleaned and bandaged Alvie's head wound and put one of those neck braces on Alvie as well as putting his left leg in a splint. They feared it was broken. Alvie had also been put on oxygen and they had injected him with an appropriate dose of morphine. Crystal was only allowed to hold his hand, tears finally emerging from behind her shock, falling freely down her cheeks. At some point, she was handed a tissue, but it wasn't used.

At the hospital, Alvie was taken away and Crystal was taken to another room, where a kindly nurse talked to her and reassured her they were going to do everything they could for her friend. The nurse also checked her wrist and went off to organise an x-ray scan.

During the following ten minutes of solitary silence while waiting for the nurse to return, Crystal couldn't understand why Alvie had risked himself to save her. Where had he been to be there in time to push her out of harm's way? Did he realise that it was his brother's friend that had pushed her into the road? Alvie wasn't the most observant of people, but could he have noticed?

The nurse returned and took her away for an x-ray. Her wrist wasn't broken, but it was put in a protective cast and a sling she had to wear for a few weeks.

Crystal asked to see Alvie, but her request was only filled to the point of being allowed to stand outside his room. The neck brace was still there and he had a dark blue cast on his left leg. His head injury must have been checked over and had been given new bandages as the blood stain was noticeably smaller on the left side of his head. He was still on oxygen and morphine.

* * *

Tobias was pacing his new cell, trying to work off his anger. The police had rung his parents and they were on their way to… what? Tobias had tried to kill Max and Max was here for his previous crimes. As far as Tobias knew, there was a police squad out on the hunt for the rest of Max's gang.

Max was sitting on his bed nervously, staring into space. When questioned by the police on why Tobias had attacked him and on his previous offences, Max had found his voice was croaky. The paramedics that had turned up reckoned his vocal cords had been damaged slightly by Tobias strangling him. They assured him that there was a slim chance of lasting damage; he just needed to rest his voice. There was also a thick layer of blue and purple bruises around his throat from Tobias's attack. Max understood why Tobias had flipped, but he hadn't pushed Crystal. He had let her go and had all intentions of letting her carry on, but Kane stepped in when she failed to hide her annoyance at them. That's when it all went wrong. The gang had run to avoid the authorities. Max had gone with them to avoid his murderous brother.

Tobias's cell door opened and he looked round. A middle aged police man motioned for him to get out, so he did.

"Tobias, what happened?" Annabeth demanded firmly, her fists bunched.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's taking Sage and the triplets to Lou's. What happened?" She repeated slowly and firmly.

"Well…" Tobias sighed.


	13. Proud

Crystal was sitting with Alvie when she noticed something.

"He's not breathing." Tears and panic swelled and she jumped up and hit the help button. A doctor ran in and assessed Alvie quickly before running out. He returned with a few other doctors who were carrying equipment with them. Crystal was ushered outside but she had to watch through the window. She wasn't sure what they doing, but she recognised the things they were using to shock Alvie's heart into working again from a TV show she used to watch.

It was fifteen or so minutes before the doctors stepped back. One of them walked outside to talk to Crystal.

"He's stable, but we've had to put him on a ventilator."

"He'll be OK, right?"

"We'll do our best." The doctor assured, putting a warm hand on her shoulder.

"Crystal!" Crystal turned. Running towards her were Alvie's parents and Joy. Crystal burst into tears and ran into her mother's arms. Annabeth and Percy asked the doctor what was going on.

After calming down and sitting in Alvie's room with her mother at her side, Crystal found out about the brawl between Tobias and Max and how that both of them were currently sitting in police cells.

* * *

Tobias had a visitor. It was his cousin, Alokia.

Alokia and Alvie had been the shy ones in the family growing up and still were, but they found comfort in each other. She was tearful and sleepy looking, but she held a thick book with a coil-binder.

She didn't say anything, handing it over to her cousin. Tobias opened it gingerly, met with Alvie's initials- A.J- in the top right corner of the first page.

The pages were covered in Alvie's wobbly writing. There were plenty of misspellings, but that wasn't his fault- he was dyslexic, like the rest of them. Tobias slowly scanned through it, noticing Alvie had added a few photos as well. He reached a blank page about two thirds of the way through.

"Read it." Alokia told him. Tobias looked up as she stepped outside. The door closed behind her and the key was in the lock in seconds.

Tobias did as she said and read through his younger brother's poor spelling, scribbled handwriting and violently crossed out words. It took a few hours, but he quickly realised this was what Annabeth had told him about- Alvie's worry journal. Not a diary, he didn't use it often enough. It was just there if he had something to say, but clammed up when he had the chance to talk to someone. Tobias was sure his mother had a nose at it whenever she could find it- Alvie was brilliant at hiding things.

The photographs were of the family, but Tobias noticed the later ones were mainly of him and Max. Tobias reread the entries, forcing himself to concentrate. He hadn't had his ADHD meds again and was now paying the price.

_I wish they'd stop fighting. They're always fighting now. Max went to hit Tobias. I don't know if Tobias did anything to provoke Max, but I don't understand what's going on. Tobias and Max had always been the big brothers; they had stuck together through everything. I remember when Tobias nearly died protecting me and Max on that hill years ago. _Tobias remembered too, phantom pain momentarily flaring in the scar. _I was listening to Mom talking to Dad. Dad had overheard Tobias and Max arguing. Max had said something about Tobias being the 'Golden Boy'. He says that a lot. Well, he does when he's home. I don't think Tobias is the Golden Boy. None of us- Mom and Dad said we're all equal. But Max said dumbasses don't think and that my opinion doesn't matter. _Tobias felt his anger boiling, but forced a lid on it, continuing to read. _Dad actually said something smart about the whole Golden Boy thing- he said something along the lines of Max being jealous of Tobias and being in Tobias's shadow. I'm not too sure what that means though. _

_I want my brothers back. They used to Tobster and Maximus, my big brothers that I could look up to help me. But it's just Tobias now, but he's got his own life, what with Sophia and the Little Twins and whenever he does come over, he fights with Max if Max is in. _

The passage just finished there. Well, kind of. Alvie had started to write something, but must have been spooked as a word became a squiggly line halfway through.

Alokia was let back in. Again, she didn't speak. She took the book from Tobias and left him there with his thoughts.

* * *

"You seem happy. What have you done?"

"Helped the cops nab that gang."

"Really?" Percy and Annabeth brightened.

"Duh." Louisa said. "Where's Leo?"

"He went to get Charlie some lunch."

"Here?" Annabeth nodded. "Cool, thanks." Louisa turned to leave.

"Lou?" Percy called. She looked back curiously. "Thanks." She grinned.

"Anytime." Louisa left, closing the door quietly. Percy looked at his wife, spotting tears in her eyes. He shifted closer to her, putting his arms around her.

"Oohh, I'm sorry, Percy." She wiped her eyes stubbornly. Percy frowned.

"For what?" Annabeth shook her head, gesturing at herself. "It's not illegal to cry you know."

"No, not that." She shook her head at him, giving a watery smile. "Seaweed Brain."

"What's the matter then?"

"You… this is going to kill me to say this, but you were right." He blinked at her.

"I'm sorry, say that again."

"You were right." She mumbled. "We should have done something stricter with Max, like sending him to Camp, but-"

"You were too stubborn and thought you could do it yourself."

"Yeah…" Annabeth sighed admittedly. "My fatal flaw, I know." She pulled a face before shaking her head again. "What are we going to do, Percy?" Her tears were back. Percy held her tighter, rubbing her back reassuringly and kissing her forehead. "I mean, Tobias wants to kill Max, Max is off the rails completely and Alvie is… he's fighting for his life, Percy!" She burst into tears. Percy just held her, letting her cry into his shoulder.

At some point, she stopped crying. It took a while for Percy to realise she was asleep. He was glad his waterproofing extended to tears.

Glancing over at his son, Percy sighed. If it wasn't for the tubes and wires around Alvie, the casts on his leg and ribs and the bandage around his head, he could have been sleeping.

But he was proud. Alvie had always doubted himself, seeing as he had always thought that he didn't have powers (which developed later than the others). Alvie had been that quiet one that would rather sit in a corner with his nose in a book than socialise. He wasn't as trained as his older brothers in the demigod and fighting side of their lives and that was the biggest source of his self-doubt. He hadn't seen himself as heroic, strong, powerful or any other similar traits.

And then he had pulled a stunt like this. Risking his life to save the one person outside of his family that could trust him and that he trusted.

Percy shook his head, smiling.

Typical Jackson.

* * *

**Most of this is drabble, but I figured you guys deserve an update. **

**Oh and if I'm mean, (which I probably will be) kindly blame ****PhiliaCabretDaughterofPoseidon as she thinks it's funny to insult my intelligence (or lack of, as she would say) and finds my real name funny (I'm Toni- it is a boys AND girls name, I am a girl and my name is not short for Antonia. Say that it is or call me Antonia, I will either find you and kill you quickly or kill you slowly and softly in some chapters that you will hate for definite on another story). To Philia, I've put that now. It has been publicised that you are being mean to me. Remember how mean I can be on here… **

**Oh and I think I've found a song for Max- I'm listening it to as I type this- look up Three Day's Grace 'Animal I have become'. **


	14. Grape anyone?

"Press charges."

"Lou…" Annabeth warned.

"Just press the goddamn charges for cryin' out loud! Look at Alvie! Those lil' sh-" Louisa stopped herself, noticing Charlie was watching her with big emerald eyes from the end of Alvie's bed. "Those lil' ba- bug- Dammit!"

"We know what you mean, Lou."

"I need a non-swear word name for 'em."

"Jerks. Toe-rags. Scumbags." Percy suggested.

"No, too common."

"Mama, is you OK?"

"No, Charlie. Mama isn't OK. Mama's havin' a mental breakdown."

"Again?" Charlie shook his head before simply saying, "OK." Louisa ruffled his hair, beaming. "Where Daddy?"

"He's workin'."

"He be back soon?"

"Ish."

"With choccie cake?"

"Maybe."

"Awesome sauce."

"Scum." Percy offered. "Dirt. Uh… Wise-girl, any names?"

"Mm?"

"Names."

"For what?"

"'N' she calls herself smart." Louisa muttered. Annabeth didn't even have the heart to glare at her sister-in-law, returning her worried gaze to her son.

In the last week, Alvie's condition hadn't improved, but it hadn't gotten worse either, if you don't count the fact that his heart had stopped twice in as many days. He was still on the ventilator, a heart monitor and a steady supply of morphine helped as well.

Annabeth felt Percy's hand on her shoulder as she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, Louisa scooping Charlie up and leaving the two of them in peace.

"Talk to me, Wise-girl." Percy pleaded, his tone concerned, yet friendly. Annabeth didn't, reaching out to take Alvie's hand. Percy wrapped his arms around her. "Is it about that nightmare you had?" She tensed.

"How-?"

"You were crying in your sleep." Percy pulled her onto his lap and held her securely. Annabeth put her arms around his neck, resting her head against his. "What was it about?" Annabeth felt her tears returning, biting her bottom lip to stop if from trembling.

"Alvie didn't wake up. They turned everything off…" Tears fell and she closed her eyes. Percy simply held her while she regained control of his emotions. "What if he doesn't wake up? What if-?" **(What if mean old Art was up to her old tricks again?)**

"Positive thoughts, Wise-girl. That was just a nightmare."

"Percy, you know better than anyone about demigod dreams." Percy didn't respond to that.

"Alvie. Will. Be. Fine."

"But-"

"No 'if's, no 'but's." He demanded stubbornly. Annabeth looked down and his expression softened. He brushed her hair behind her ear. "Everything will be fine." He assured.

"Is it too much to ask you to promise?"

"I'll promise anyway, Wise-girl." She gave a watery smile. Percy kissed her lightly, before being distracted by the door opening.

It was Crystal, still wearing her sling.

Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, with shadows underneath indicating she hadn't slept well. Her hair was up in a lazy, messy bun. She was in a right state.

Joy and William were with her. Joy held a bouquet of roses. She glanced at Alvie and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Brave boy…" She mumbled. William regarded Alvie's unconscious form for a few seconds, scowling. Annabeth felt Percy tense angrily, but she hadn't noticed what had triggered his usually dormant temper.

Crystal burst into tears and her mother instantly started comforting her. William looked on coldly and Annabeth felt her own temper rising. Percy grabbed her hand quickly, catching her gaze. They had the same thought but weren't reacting.

"Whoa, there's people."

"Well done, Lou."

"Mama, who's that?"

"Alvie's gir- friend. Not girlfriend. Unless I missed somethin'." Annabeth shook her head. "Oh OK. Friend, Charlie, that's Alvie's friend."

"The one he-?" Charlie made a pushing motion.

"Yeah." Louisa replied quietly. "Eat that bloody chocolate cake 'n' sit still for five minutes." Charlie was handed to Annabeth. Louisa instantly flexed her arms. "All that chocolate cake- the kid's gettin' heavier by the second."

"Aw, leave him alone, Lou." Annabeth smiled weakly, running a hand through Charlie's curls.

"I thought he was your favourite?"

"Ya look pissed off, bro. Did I miss somethin' else?" Percy and Louisa held each other's gaze for a few seconds. "Oh." Louisa eventually said, as if that summed everything up. She turned and came face-to-face with William. "Who are you?"

"Crystal's dad."

"_Step_dad." Crystal corrected, getting control of her tears. She glowered at William.

"OK, that's three people who ain't happy with ya."

"Four." Charlie piped in. "He no look nice."

"Wow. Charlie doesn't like somebody." Annabeth held the small boy at arm's length. "Has Mama put something in your cake?" Charlie looked at the last bit of chocolate cake in his hands curiously, before shrugging it off and shoving it in his mouth. "Aren't you a little piggy?"

"OK, five now. Or six if I can included you." Louisa looked at Joy quizzically.

"I'm staying out of this." Joy mumbled. William glowered at her before glaring at Louisa. Louisa met his gaze defiantly, folding her arms.

"You're an arse."

"What did I do?"

"It's not so much what ya did, it's more ta do with what ya said." Louisa replied casually, turning away and wandering over to the fruit bowl on the bedside table. She picked at the grapes.

"What did I say then?" William asked irritably, rolling his eyes at the ceiling.

"First of all, if ya roll ya eyes at me again, you'll be blindly cleanin' 'em off the wall. Second, ya know damn well what ya said." William glanced at Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth's suspicions hit the roof instantly.

"What'd he say?" She demanded, looking at Louisa.

"Tell 'em or I will."

"How do you even know?" Louisa picked a few more grapes and stood in line with William.

"Don't question what I do, alright?" She bounced a grape off his head. Despite his temper, Percy smiled. Crystal gave a half-sob, half-laugh from her mother's arms while Charlie giggled. "I hate people like you. All talk 'n' no action."

"Like you?"

"Oh, no. I do whatever shit I say."

"Lou, language."

"Charlie, don't repeat that." Charlie nodded obediently, giving an angelic smile. Louisa kept bouncing grapes off of William's head. He was quickly getting annoyed with her. "Tell 'em."

"I didn't say anything."

"You did. To Crystal. Which is why she's more upset than usual about this whole thing."

"What did I say and when did I say it?" William sighed, bunching his fists in annoyance as another grape ricocheted from his forehead.

"Tell. Them. Or. I. Will. Make. You." With each word, Louisa fired a grape at him.

"Fine!" William snapped. "Just drop the goddamn grapes." Louisa smirked, looking at the handful of grapes she possessed.

"I know how ta annoy Leo now."

"What did you say?" Annabeth ordered sharply, glaring at William. Charlie got down from his aunt's lap and went to stand with his mother. William sighed, glancing at the ceiling as if to look to God, asking why he was stuck with these lowly peasants. Louisa threw another grape at him.

"With immense sarcasm, I said it was a shame Alvie got hit." Annabeth reacted before anybody, drawing a knife from her sleeve and holding the blade to William's throat in a second. Louisa started eating the grapes casually.

"Anything else?" Annabeth snarled. OK, admittedly, the knife was celestial bronze, but William didn't know that.

William studied her face for a few seconds, his expression hiding the fear clear in his eyes.

"He's a freak."

"I've got a good knife if ya want it." Louisa told Annabeth through a mouthful of grapes. Annabeth held her hand out in a demanding flourish, not removing her glare from William. Louisa pulled a normal knife from her sleeve, flipped it over and pressed the handle to Annabeth's palm.

"You're all freaks." William sneered.

"They're not!" Crystal shouted, tears streaming again. "You never liked Alvie! He did nothing wrong and you threaten him!"

"You did _what_?!" Percy was on his feet now, his hand in his pocket. Riptide wouldn't help with mortals. Hopefully his sister had another normal knife.

Crystal turned to address Alvie's parents.

"That day Alvie stayed at mine and I called you to pick him early. That _thing_ had threatened him!" She jabbed a finger at William. "You said there was something wrong with Alvie and you left bruises on his arm!"

"Now that was hardly intentional, was it?" William scoffed.

"I hate you!" Crystal screamed. "What did Alvie do, huh? Why don't you like him?!"

"I told him to stay away from you so you wouldn't end up hurt again!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Alvie is fighting for his life having saved me from getting hit by a bloody car!"

"And left you injured in the process!"

"I could be dead! That is a heck of a lot worse than a fractured wrist, you stupid fat idiot!" William tensed.

"What did you call me?"

"Oh, don't like that, huh?" Crystal laughed coldly.

"Crystal…" Joy warned, trying to hold her daughter back. Crystal pulled free, meeting William's glare with a defiant one of her own.

"You're a possessive, spoilt little brat with your head up your ass, snapping your fingers and expecting everyone to come running while the world revolves around pathetic scumbag William." She spat at his feet. Louisa picked Charlie up and covered his ears. "You're a fucking waste of space and I'm just hoping and praying for that day when you realise that nobody wants your shitty existence on this planet anymore and you decide to go and dig your own bloody grave because nobody will want to waste their precious time on bastards like you."

Crystal would have gone on, but a soft, yet pained moan caught her attention.

Everyone looked round. Alvie was grimacing and groaning quietly. It was as if the disturbance and tension in the room had upset him even in unconsciousness.

"You should go." Louisa told William, setting Charlie down. "Before either me, her or him," She indicated Annabeth and Percy in turn, "Figure out that there ain't much distance between us 'n' you. 'N' that it wouldn't be that hard ta kick ya sorry ass."

William glanced round at them all, fuming. His gaze lingered on Joy.

"Come on." He turned to leave, but froze at the door when he noticed Joy hadn't move. "I said _come on_."

"I'm staying here." Joy told him flatly.

"You're coming with me." William growled, storming forward and grabbing Joy's arm. She squeaked in pain.

Something snapped in Percy. One second he was staring at William, wanting to kill him and the next he had William by the throat and pinned up against the wall.

Louisa looked quizzically at Annabeth, pointing at her brother. She was the tempermental one- Percy was so stealing her gig.

"I'll explain later." Annabeth mouthed. She was trying to listen to what Percy was muttering threateningly to William, but even in the shocked hush of the room, she couldn't hear him.

Eventually, Percy threw William aside. William left hastily and Percy slammed the door closed after him.

Slowly, Alvie relaxed.

"No-one like that guy." Charlie said. "What you say to him, Unki Percy?"

"Nevermind." Percy muttered. Annabeth noticed his temper simmering under the surface and moved forward, holding onto her Seaweed Brain until he calmed down.

"Grape, anyone?" Louisa smiled.


	15. Get well soon

Walking into school that day, Crystal suddenly realised how Alvie must have felt. Everyone was staring at her and clearing paths for her whether it was on the grounds or in the corridors. Nobody talked to her other than the teachers wishing to know how Alvie was.

Some people handed over get well cards, which Crystal initially found strange, considering nobody sided with Alvie except for her. And now… twenty people were wishing him well? Crystal decided some people needed some sense slapped into them. A lot of sense slapped into them _hard_.

Lessons were boring and lonely without Alvie to pry for information about him. At lunch, people waved her over to sit with them, but she barely acknowledged them, automatically heading for the table she and Alvie shared during lunches. People passed, attempting to worm words out of her, but failing miserably.

At some point in the fifth lesson, Crystal put her head on the desk and ignored everything.

If Alvie were sat next to her, he probably would have done the same and fallen asleep. He may have trouble sleeping when it was actually time to sleep, but in Geography, he was the sleeping champion.

Two weeks passed in this state and she felt more and more miserable and lonely every day. How the hell had Alvie managed this for years?

Well, for starters, he didn't have his closest friend lying in a coma after risking their life to save him. He didn't have the guilt of that weighing down on his shoulders and assurance that she was not to blame had no effect.

Joy picked her up from school in the shiny, new white Peugeot 2008 e-HDi 115 Feline, as Joy would say proudly whenever someone asked her about it.

"We're going to see Alvie. Is that OK?" Joy asked carefully, searching her daughter's face for any disagreement. Crystal nodded mutely, recalling the number of get well cards in her bag. In total, there were about sixty or more from the previous fortnight. About fifteen of them were from teachers and fellow staff that knew Alvie and his family fairly well.

His parents would be pleased.

* * *

Opening the door to Alvie's room, Crystal sensed tension in the air and her skin crawled with a bad feeling.

Looking at Alvie, she saw that he hadn't changed since when she saw him two days ago- obviously. What caught her and her mother's attention was that Annabeth was nearly in tears while frustratingly arguing with a doctor. Percy was sat in a chair next to Alvie's, his face hidden in his hands.

"We have to, ma'am. There isn't much more we can do for him."

"You can't! I won't let you!"

"Ma'am, I understand you're upset, but it's for the best." The doctor looked unsettled and ready to bolt from the room with the glowering and teary blonde screaming at him.

"Percy, back me up on this! They can't-" Annabeth saw Crystal and Joy and her anger faded into a breakdown of tears.

"What's going on?" Crystal looked from Alvie's parents to the doctor and back again. The doctor sighed.

"I'm afraid we'll have to turn off Alvie's ventilator."

"No!" Crystal screamed, bursting into tears. The doctor paled slightly, aware he could have another one or potentially two other females crying and screaming at him. It wasn't his fault; he was just doing his job. "Please, don't! Give him another chance, please!"

The doctor hesitated.

"Alright, alright- we'll give him four more days and then we'll take him off the ventilator. After that, there isn't anything more we can do other than keep the pain at bay." Annabeth stifled a sob behind her hands, tears flowing freely. Percy looked up then, uncovering his eyes alone, his hands over the rest of his face. He stared at the doctor with those intense emerald green eyes and the doctor suddenly mumbled excuses for leave.

Joy held Crystal for what felt like hours as sobs wracked her body. Eventually she reached the nauseous, hiccupping phase of extensive crying.

Looking round, she saw Percy had gotten up to comfort his wife. Annabeth was crying into Percy's chest, her hands covering her face. Percy's expression was carefully blank, but his eyes burned with emotion, fires flickering and snapping. There was a power in his eyes that Crystal hadn't seen before. Accustomed to the cheeky and laid-back gleam, Crystal was frightened somewhat at the sudden and darker change in his eyes.

Percy was suddenly talking to Annabeth in low tones. Crystal did her best to quieten her hiccups in an attempt to listen, but she still couldn't hear what he was saying.

* * *

News about Alvie's last four days spread like wildfire throughout the school. Many asked where their get well soon cards had gone. Crystal told them she had set them out in Alvie's room at the hospital, but in truth she had handed them to Alvie's parents. Annabeth had turned them away, but Percy offered a small, grateful smile, lifting Crystal's mood slightly at the same time.

That's when Max came back.

It wasn't his best decision, considering people chucked various items in hand at him along with name-calling and threatens to his life. Max was constantly accused for causing Alvie that level of injury. Max didn't respond to anything, simply carrying on to his locker to clean it out. His expression was cautiously emotionless and he revealed nothing.

Crystal wanted answers.

"Max?" He stiffened at the sound of her voice, half-turning to face her. Instead of the blank mask he had put on; guilt, shame and depression could be read clearly. He didn't speak however, staring at her fearfully as if she was to be the cause of his downfall.

Crystal held his gaze, keeping her face blank of any emotions that had controlled her for the past few weeks. She thought about what she wanted to ask him, rewording it several times in her mind before, "What's your side of the story?"

Max blinked at her, confusion fading into his eyes. Crystal stared him out.

"I… I was going to let you go." He mumbled, looking down in shame. "I… I didn't… I didn't see A- him until… until it was too late and I just… I panicked."

"Is that why you ran?" Wincing, Max nodded mutely. "Who pushed me?"

"Kane did." He replied quietly, holding her gaze briefly before looking down again. "Crystal, if I could change it all, I would." Crystal was shocked to see tears in the older teen's eyes. "I never meant to hurt anyone… I just… it…" Max closed his eyes and shook his head. "Oh, it's all messed up." Before she could get another word out of him, he turned and ran.

"Honestly, I thought you had better taste than to talk to scumbags." Crystal turned sharply, meeting Tobias's gaze. He had his arms folded and was glaring after Max.

"It's not his fault." Anger flared in Tobias's eyes and settled in his features, startling her. Crystal mustered her courage and squared her shoulders stubbornly.

"You're sticking up for that little git?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Why? Look what he did to Alvie!"

"He didn't do that. He had all intentions of letting me go."

"It was his stupid friends that did this! I told him not to hang out with them and look what happened!"

"I know what happened! Of course I know what happened! This," She raised her arm, which was still in the sling, "Is a constant reminder! I can't get the image of him lying motionless and helpless in that bed out of my head! But I know for sure he wouldn't want you and Max tearing each other's throats out over this!" Tobias didn't respond; fuming as he reluctantly considered what she said. "Just talk to Max, please." Tobias made to protest. "Just do it for Alvie." His protest faded and his expression softened in desperation.

Sighing, Tobias gave a nod and stalked off after his brother.

Crystal looked up at the sky through the floor to ceiling windows, thinking about Alvie's heritage. Was that all true?

Miserably, Crystal offered up a silent prayer, wishing for Alvie's recovery and his brothers resolving their current predicament.

She just hoped someone was there to listen.

* * *

**Is this OK? I've got a splitting headache and I can't think straight. Please review and let me know what you think! **


	16. Damn you, Apollo!

**To scenic97, I will reply to all reviews here. For the review on Charlie's story, I really try with all the fight scenes as I can't describe them to be as epic as they are in my head. The description of the gory was me probably wanting to describe things to a certain extent or me just not really focusing, as usual. I hadn't noticed that I skip the after-fight; I'll have to work on that. I also didn't notice me jumbling up Kara and Carly- I lost track of things at that point, but they were supposed to be the same character.**

**For your review on the Random One-shot fic, yes that is your longest review. You're a bit like me with the whole getting ready thing in the morning, except my long hair was annoying me so I cut it off and now have short messy hair which is fun and easy. If I'm honest, I totally forget that the storm spirit from the Grand Canyon was a Dylan as well. No, this Dylan is Lou's mortal friend that wants to keep all sharp things out of her reach. Um… oopsie about the spoilers for the Hunger Games… I didn't think of that… I don't know why Percy didn't melt the water bonds himself- planning that one-shot, I just saw Leo melting the ice for Percy and stuck with it. Sibling dynamics again, yeah- I like writing those; they're fun. Admittedly, I can't remember much from the beginning of Leo's settled down, but I will have to read the whole thing again in an attempt to rewrite and improve it. And I did update that last night, so less of the HINT thank you very much (smiley face). Leo and Lou take turns picking on Octavian otherwise Leo doesn't get any fun. I'm not against gays or anything, considering five or so of my friends are either gay or bi, but I had to add the gay joke in. SORRY IF I OFFENDED ANYONE. Yeah, again with the sibling dynamics- I did address some relations between demigods and gods in 'Family Relations'- have you read that? **

**And for your reply on the latest Tophia story- thank you for that lesson which made me slightly uncomfortable, if I'm honest. I didn't know that about the whole getting pregnant after having kids thing. But I've written it now and I am too lazy to change it/ haven't got any ideas for changing it. Plus, I'm working on a set timescale as well with ideas that have to happen around a certain point so I can follow said timescale easily. Again, didn't know about the drinking pills dissolved in water thing either, but I had that idea and was going to use it so Sophia could get a point over Tobias. Yes, Tobias gate-crashed his parents' wedding- that was 'Surprise', one of my first Percy Jackson fics- it's not the best, but I'm happy with it. Finn and Darcy do have middle names- somebody asked me this the other day. Finn is Finn Robin Jackson (remember how Leo and Charlie wanted him to be Finn Batman Jackson- the whole Batman and Robin thing) and Darcy is Darcy Blaise Jackson, I believe, due to popularity in voting. Vicky will probably aspire to be an event-planner, but not so sure what she's majoring in as I can't remember. I know about doctors keeping personal interests to themselves and remaining professional on the job, but I just had to put the whole gay doctor thing and upset Tobias because I was in a fairly mean mood and wanted to do that. They are ADHD so they often speak first and think later, don't they? **

**I think I've covered everything… let me know if I missed something! **

**And to everyone now- this is a chapter with good and bad news… thanks to lil Miss Mysterious… (I'm sorry, had to get the blame out there- hope you don't mind, lMM!)**

* * *

The four days passed. Alvie didn't wake up, no matter how hard Crystal prayed.

But the day came when his ventilator had to be switched off. It was the only moment when Tobias and Max could stand in the same room without Tobias trying to kill Max, (Sophia was restraining him).

Sage and the triplets were in tears, Annabeth was doing her best to hold it together while her husband and his sister wore carefully stoic expressions. Leo was contrite, as was Charlie, who was nestled in his arms. Elsie was comforting Alokia while pointedly glaring at Max. Sally and Paul had turned up as well. Jessica arrived fifteen minutes after them with Poseidon and Athena. Like Max and Tobias, they were in the same room for once without attempts to kill each other.

The doctor seemed blasé to them amount of family members that turned up, but he skirted around the two gods present, their powerful auras screwing with his mortal mind.

"He may continue breathing for a short while. He could struggle or not, but I can assure you he won't be in any pain."

The ventilator was switched off. Annabeth couldn't hold in her tears anymore and a flicker of emotion passed over Percy's features. Crystal shied away, crying in her mother's arms yet again.

Alvie did carry on breathing as the doctor said. The doctor had backed into a corner of the room to give the large family space. Alvie's breathing was slow, soft and steady. Crystal was trying to psych herself up for when he stopped.

Annabeth glanced at her mother with tearful, pleading eyes. Percy also looked to his godly parent, silently pleading that Poseidon contributed.

The gods glanced at each other before looking at the doctor. A dreamy look crossed over the medic's features and he stumbled out. Tobias frowned, following the doctor's rambling movements. When the door closed, he looked at his godly grandparents.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Ssh." Athena said softly. Tobias didn't like being shushed, but he recognised that look in his immortal grandmother's eyes and reluctantly stayed quiet.

Poseidon moved forward first. Leo moved back as the god passed.

"Stupid mortals…" Poseidon muttered. "Athena, as usual, you were right." Athena smirked.

"And you were wrong."

"No, I was less right."

"Been watchin' Megamind, Dad?" Louisa smiled. Poseidon returned it.

"There are some mortal films that amuse me. Now, quiet." Poseidon instructed. Louisa pulled a face at him while her brother looked at her quizzically. Poseidon rested a hand on Alvie's forehead. Athena stepped forward and took Alvie's hand.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but finally the gods pulled away.

"How strange…" Athena mused.

"What?" Annabeth demanded. Athena didn't answer straight away.

"We need Apollo. This has to be his doing."

"Most likely…" Poseidon sighed in agreement. He called for Apollo. Instantly, a golden flash filled the room. Seventeen year old Apollo appeared, dancing away to music from his iPod.

The sun god looked round, mildly surprised to see so many people watching him curiously.

"It's Gangnam Style- you can't beat that."

"Apollo, what did you do?"

"What'd you mean?" Apollo frowned in confusion. Poseidon waved his hand at Alvie and Apollo brightened. Literally, brightened- he seemed to glow. "Oh, that!" Apollo waved it off. "That's just a little pressie from me to brighten his day."

"What did you do to my son?!" Annabeth cried.

"Whoa, sugar, lighten up. He's fine." Apollo snapped his fingers. "See, look. He's fine." Everyone looked at Alvie. His breathing had evened out and sounded completely normal.

"Other than his injuries, Apollo, what did you do?"

"Well…" Apollo started, casually wrapping his headphones around his iPod. "When he wakes up, you'll understand. You're a smart girl."

"If you've hurt him, I will kill you." Annabeth growled. Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"I'm immortal, sugar." Apollo smiled. "I just called you smart and everything and you want to kill an immortal." He shrugged. "It'll be amusing to watch you try."

"So… he's going to wake up?" Sage asked carefully.

"At some point in the next few hours he will." Apollo replied kindly, smiling.

"He'll be OK?" Sage looked worried for her older brother.

"Eventually, yeah, he'll be fine. Just don't freak him out or stress him or anything."

"I'm confused- who are you people?" Joy quizzed, looking at the three gods.

"Ooh, I love telling mortals I'm the smoking hot sun god!" Apollo beamed. He bounced forward and linked his arm with Joy's. She looked bewildered.

"Crystal, are these people OK? Like, mentally?"

"It's hard to tell, Mom." Crystal replied truthfully. "No offense or anything." She added, looking at the three gods. Apollo laughed, Poseidon smiled while Athena watched her carefully.

* * *

Alvie didn't wake up for hours, as Apollo had said he would. Joy was sitting in the corner with a strong coffee. She was still trying to get her head around the whole god thing. Crystal had tried to comfort her, but Joy was unusually quiet.

"Mom will be OK, won't she?" Crystal asked, looking at Annabeth.

"Possibly- just give her time to calm down." Crystal nodded. Annabeth went back to watching her son expectantly, Percy at her side. Whether or not they registered the tension between their two oldest sons, they didn't let on. Tobias was leaning against the wall, the window open next to him. Sophia stood next to him, holding his hand to hold him back, but he continued to glare at Max.

Max was sat on the floor on the other side of the room, looking up at Alvie's sleeping expression with worried eyes.

Sage and Charlie were keeping the triplets entertained while Elsie and Alokia supervised. Leo and Louisa had gone off to get the children something to eat.

The gods had long gone, but Poseidon turned up once an hour to check on the situation. He stayed for about ten minutes before leaving again. It turned out his immortal wife didn't want him around his mortal children or their mother. Sally and Paul were keeping an eye on Tobias and Max while Jessica had gone out to find her adoptive daughter and Leo.

It was reaching eight o'clock. Thanks to some help from Louisa and her Mist-manipulating powers, Annabeth and Percy had been allowed to stay. Leo and Louisa took the kids home, Louisa prodding Tobias out with a sharp arrow, keeping him away from Max. The triplets had fallen asleep in Elsie and Alokia's arms while Sage and Charlie plodded along sleepily after them. Leo ended up giving Sage a piggy back while Louisa carried Charlie and kept her eldest nephews under control. Sally, Paul and Jessica were giving the lot rides back to the Percy and Annabeth's place, considering it was bigger and had a few spare bedrooms.

Crystal had wanted to stay as well, but her mother had finally started to reappear.

"What if he wakes up and I'm not here?"

"He'll be happy to see you anyway, Crystal. You need your sleep though."

"I want to stay here." Crystal pleaded. Joy revealed a stubborn streak and threatened to drag Crystal home and not bring her back should Crystal not do as she was told.

Sulking, Crystal reluctantly left with her mother.

Annabeth glanced at Percy, who was still smiling at the mother-daughter battle he had just witnessed.

"I think she's good for Alvie."

"You've been hanging out with Piper way a bit too much, Wise-girl." He joked feebly.

"Alvie likes her."

"He does?"

"You didn't notice?" Percy looked sheepish.

"I thought he did, but I wasn't sure."

"Seaweed Brain…" She smiled.

Alvie sighed. Both parents looked at him, all smiles gone. Alvie was grimacing and shaking his head. Annabeth stood up, taking her son's hand and running a hand through his hair. "It's OK, Alvie." She assured, speaking in soft and soothing tones. Percy was careful not to say anything on that factor, smiling to himself.

Annabeth kept talking to Alvie softly and his grimace slowly relaxed. Alvie stirred before groggily opening his eyes a fraction.

Percy bit back a curse as Annabeth stifled a scream.

Alvie's eyes were glowing pure white.

His lips moved soundlessly, but Annabeth realised he was trying to call for her. "I-I'm here, Alvie." She squeezed his hand reassuringly. Alvie started to panic, turning his head frantically.

"Can't… see…" He managed, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper.

"OK, sweetheart, we'll think of something. Just stay calm and breathe slowly, alright?" Alvie gave a stiff nod and did his best to follow her advice. "Percy, what do we do?"

"I- um… call Apollo?" Percy suggested nervously. Annabeth nodded and Percy fell silent.

A sunny, golden flash filled the room.

"You called?" Apollo smiled.

"Why's he like this?" Annabeth demanded.

"Oh, that… well, I was going to tell you about that, but then I was like 'uh oh, shouldn't do that' but you called and I'm here."

"That's not answering my question." Annabeth growled. Percy took her free hand and she exhaled slowly, willing herself to calm down for Alvie's sake. Apollo hummed indecisively before replying.

"To put it simply, he's psychic."


	17. Everybody loves Alvie!

**I feel terrible. What happened was that a 'flower fairy' came in through the window. It's one of those things that you catch and blow away while making a wish. Well, me being as lovely as I am gave the 'flower fairy' to my little sister (she's 5) and she wished for a unicorn. Before I knew that, I explained to her that the 'flower fairy' has to go all the way to Magic Land which is in an alternate dimension and then the wishes would come true. Then I found out she wanted a unicorn and now she's expecting one to turn up any second now and I'm running out of excuses while frantically looking for unicorn toys on Amazon. I've told my sister that the wish has to be approved by the 'flower fairy council', but as they have so few unicorns left, they have to be careful with who they send unicorns to. What do I do?!**

* * *

Crystal waited until William had left for work before begging her mother to go and see Alvie.

Arriving at the hospital, she was relieved to see that he was propped up against the pillows, but worried slightly at the damp cloth covering his eyes. Annabeth was sat on the bed next to him, holding his hand and talking to him reassuringly.

"Alvie?"

"Who's that, Mom?" Alvie asked, turning his head slightly in his mother's direction.

"It's Crystal." Alvie brightened.

"Where is she?"

"Is he OK?" Annabeth pulled a face, waving Crystal over. "Alvie, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I just can't see. Where are you?" Crystal took his hand and he relaxed.

"Take the cloth off."

"No, it's helping him." Annabeth explained. Crystal frowned slightly in confusion. "Percy figured it out, surprisingly, but when Alvie woke up he couldn't see at all and started panicking. The water helps him stay calm and is slowly clearing his eyes."

"Clearing his eyes? What's that mean?"

"Um… I'll tell you later." Annabeth decided.

"Is Dad back yet?" Alvie asked.

"No, not yet."

"He'll come back, right?"

"Of course he will, Alvie." Annabeth laughed softly. "Don't worry." She squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"He's in the cafeteria." Alvie suddenly said. "Demon lunch lady at the counter."

"You what?" Annabeth's smile had vanished.

"They found Dad. There's loads of them."

"Oh gods… Alvie, I'm going to go and help him. Will you be OK?" Alvie's grip tightened on Crystal's hand momentarily, as if making sure she was still there.

"Yeah."

"Is there anything I can do?" Joy asked as Annabeth passed her.

"No, it's OK thanks."

"Alvie, why can't you see?" Crystal asked worriedly as soon as the door had closed behind Annabeth.

"I dunno." Alvie had turned his head in her direction. "Dad called Apollo in and he said something along the lines of me seeing things others can't."

"That doesn't make sen- yeah, it does." Crystal paused. "So you _are_ psychic?"

"Apparently."

"That's kinda cool and kinda creepy."

"It's annoying." Alvie muttered. "I can't see anything." Crystal carefully removed the cloth and nearly screamed. His eyes were pure white, glowing menacingly.

Noticing the bowl of water on the side, Crystal distracted herself by dampening and rinsing the cloth a few times before replacing it over Alvie's eyes.

"So, how does the water help?"

"Dad's a son of Poseidon. Water is kinda his thing."

"And your mom's godly parent?"

"Athena."

"That's the wisdom goddess, right?" Alvie nodded. "You're gonna have to help me with all of this godly stuff. It's confusing." Alvie smiled weakly. "Hey, you missed it at school. Liam came back. He didn't know at the time what happened to you and was all 'Where's the dumbass?' and his supposed best friend stuck up for you!"

"Which one is his best friend again?"

"That Bill guy."

"Oh, him."

"You really scared him. He was shouting at Liam and I think he mentioned how it was weird that somebody that was supposed to hate him – you – knew more about Bill's home life than his apparent best friend did." Crystal grinned. "It was so cool."

The door opened and Percy and Annabeth stumbled in.

"You were right, Alvie. There were loads." Crystal bit her lip nervously when she saw Annabeth slipping a knife up her sleeve.

"Are you both OK?" Alvie asked, facing in his parents' general direction.

"Bumps and bruises." Percy replied, smiling. "We're fine, Alvie, don't worry about us."

"We've done this for years, remember?" Annabeth smiled. Alvie relaxed slightly.

"Got you ice-cream." Percy grinned.

"Mint choc chip?" Alvie asked hopefully.

"Yup."

"Thanks Dad."

* * *

Crystal stayed with Alvie until lunchtime. Joy had to work the afternoon shift at a posh care home for the elderly and was about to take Crystal home when Percy offered to keep an eye on her.

"Oh, please let me stay here." Crystal begged, jumping at Percy's offer.

"Well- bless you, Alvie." Joy laughed. Alvie had sneezed and the cloth over his eyes had fallen off.

"I can see!" Alvie beamed. Relief flooded over his parents' expressions and Percy laughed.

"How many fingers?" He asked. Alvie stared at his hand for a few seconds.

"Three."

"Blurry?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, but I can see!" Annabeth smiled.

"Keep the cloth on then. It could stop making things blurry." Alvie nodded and sat still as his mother replaced the cloth. "And don't sneeze."

"Knock knock." Leo said, walking in with Charlie at his heels.

"Alvie can see." Leo grinned.

"We need celebration choccie cake!"

"Yeah!" Charlie agreed happily.

* * *

Alvie was discharged a few days later, surprising the doctors from recovering from being on a ventilator and almost dying a few times to walking about and breathing normally on his own.

He went to school two days later, hobbling about on crutches. He enjoyed the crutches, tripping Tobias up and poking Sage and Percy relentlessly.

Crystal met him outside the school gates, beaming at him.

"How are you feeling?" She quizzed, taking his bag from Percy. Being on crutches meant it wasn't overly easy carrying his school rucksack.

"These are fun." He grinned, lifting his arms briefly to motion at the crutches.

"They're a bloody nightmare." Percy said, but he was smiling. "Be good, alright. I don't want a phone call saying you've beaten someone up with those things."

"He's too nice." Crystal smiled. Percy nodded in agreement, ruffled Alvie's hair and left.

Walking on through the school gates, Alvie did not expect everyone to start cheering. He faltered in his steps, stunned and nervous.

Crystal laughed. "Oh, Alvie."

"Wh-?"

"Everyone here knows what you did. You've never been so popular." Alvie glanced sheepishly and anxiously round at everyone.

Crystal was right to not expect Alvie to adjust to the positive feedback he got from classmates that had once picked on him. He remained on edge all day in case some of the newly nice people turned back into their old mean selves.

"Alvie, relax." Alvie pulled a face. "Look, you amazed everyone by doing what you did. No-one expected it of you. I've talked to some people- sure they picked on you, but they didn't want you dead."

"Right…" Alvie said uncertainly, glancing around the corridor.

"We've got Art next, right?" Alvie nodded, having memorized his and her timetables. "Lots of plasticine then. You like plasticine."

"Yeah." He admitted quietly, offering a small smile.

The one advantage of Alvie having a busted leg was that he and Crystal could get into lesson ten minutes before everyone else, leave ten minutes before everyone else and get into the cafeteria ten minutes before the rest of the school. It was great.

The Art teachers, Miss Hill and Miss Dolan, **(my art teachers- they're so cool!) **, smiled happily as Alvie and Crystal walked in. The teachers were both of average height. Miss Hill had short, choppy hair dyed a bright pink (because she could) and wore a matching pink blouse with smart black trousers. She was very childish, scared of glitter **(yes, my art teacher in real life is scared of glitter) **and had the habit of offering out chocolate digestives or sweets. Miss Dolan was Irish with her dark hair pulled back in a high pony tail. She wore a blue floral dress with a black cardigan. She had a similar sense of humour to Miss Hill, but could be a bit stricter with her class.

"It's so good to see you again, chickety." Miss Dolan smiled.

"I'm going to sign your cast." Miss Hill announced, bouncing away for a marker.

Crystal helped Alvie sit down (he wasn't the most balanced of people), propping a stool under his broken leg.

"Is that OK?" She asked.

"Itchy." He mumbled.

"Itchy?" He put a hand on his cast.

"Itchy." He confirmed. "Mom said no scratching though, like that's even possible." He sighed. "Itchy!" He complained, whimpering childishly. Crystal laughed.

* * *

**Ok that's all for tonight. Most of it is drabbley, but I had several people like 'DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ALVIE BLIND OR I WILL KILL YOU!' and the likes. I'm not done yet though *evil laugh***

**The unicorn matter has been resolved. I have ordered a toy off of Amazon for my little sister. I've told her that I got a message from the 'flower fairy' that the unicorn was packing her back and would be here in three to five days. But my little sister has to be extra good or the unicorn will turn around and go home. **


	18. Heh heh, kaboom

**I don't know if you're going to read this, guest reviewer AnnoymousAngel, but I'm putting it here anyway as you ticked me off slightly. I'm British, yes. So what? I can't just suddenly decide to become American to please idiots like you. So what if Percy and Annabeth have seven kids? How are they long names? For crying out loud, Tobias has ONE middle name. In comparison to my older sister who has seven or whatever, that's a pretty short name. Don't criticise my stories unless you can do a better job, OK? I will write what I want to, when I want to and who gives a damn if it ends up with a hundred and twenty-three chapters? That's for me to decide, not you. Apparently, you read 123 chapters if you're summing the whole thing up in one review. I don't give a damn about your views on my OC as what seems to be the majority of my lovely readers (unlike you) seem to like Lou. How about you go away and think before you next have a go at someone for a fic. Bye bye, pleasure to see you leave. **

**To everyone else, I am in one of those moods again where everyone is suddenly ready for target practise. But I will try and come up with something for whichever story comes to mind in the next few seconds as I have nothing else to do…**

* * *

Art was… interesting. **(Yes, I know. Thank you me :P ) **

By interesting, Crystal meant weird. Alvie seemed fine for the first half of the lesson and then suddenly in pain, covering his eyes and bowing his head.

"Alvie, are you OK?" Alvie moved his hands away slightly, keeping his head down.

"Can't see…" He replied quietly for only Crystal to hear, covering his eyes again.

"Is everything alright?" Miss Dolan asked. She dodged around the desks, everyone redirecting their attention to Alvie.

"Just a headache, right Alvie?" Crystal said nervously. Miss Dolan wasn't buying it. Alvie didn't respond which furthered the teacher's suspicions.

"Alvie, look at me, chickety." Alvie shook his head, pulling away from the teacher.

Alvie suddenly tensed.

"Alvie?" Crystal's worry was growing by the second. Alvie dropped his hands, keeping his eyes firmly shut. He reached out for something. Crystal had a sudden gut feeling to pass over a pencil and paper.

"What's he doing?"

"He's gone nuts."

"He was already nuts."

"Hey, be nice!"

"Just saying."

Alvie was drawing rapidly, a rough sketch of… a room.

Miss Dolan, Crystal and the three others on their table were watching curiously.

"That's the school gym." One of the kids sitting opposite Crystal said. "Why's he drawn that?"

"And what's that in the middle?" Alvie dropped his pencil at that and covered his eyes again.

Crystal studied the drawing. It wasn't very detailed, but it was clearly the school gym, aside for the fact that there was something in the middle. It was only half-drawn, cylindrical in shape with an array of what appeared to be buttons or the likes.

"Alvie, what is that?"

"Fire alarm."

"What?"

"Press the fire alarm."

"Why?"

"Need…" Alvie's voice caught and he suddenly couldn't breathe properly.

"Alvie, calm do- oh gods…" Alvie lowered his hands. By the brief flicker of relief across his features, Crystal figured he could see again. But the blood on his hands and pouring from his eyes was an even greater worry.

"Need… to get… everyone… out…" He managed between laboured breaths. "Ring… fire alarm."

"OK, OK." Crystal jumped up and ran out into the corridor, heading for the nearest fire alarm.

The gym was just down the hall, down a flight of stairs and around the corner. Crystal glanced over her shoulder, the fire alarm shrill and hurting her ears. Students and teachers were clamouring to get out quickly, the teachers shouting for order.

Crystal made a run for the gym, darting through students and dashing downstairs. Even in the crowed corridors, it didn't take her long to get to the gym.

Her heart racing, she saw what Alvie had been drawing. Why had no-one noticed this?

It was about the rough height of an average basketball; a round long cylinder blinking with lights. Crystal squinted through the glass and saw the timer.

Twenty minutes.

She raced back to her class, finding Miss Dolan supporting a blind Alvie out of the class. Blood was still pouring from his eyes, which had turned scarlet instead of the white such as last time. Crystal took him gently by the other arm and talked reassuringly.

"Crystal, what was that about?"

"It's a long story, Miss, but there's something in the gym."

"What?"

"I don't know. It has a timer- twenty minutes. It could be a bomb, Miss."

"Who would bomb a school?"

"Who indeed?" They looked up, stopping in the doorway. Alvie tensed.

Standing on the roof of the low building opposite was a tall, muscular blonde guy with a sword hanging from his belt and a scar across his cheek. He sneered down at them before casually jumping off the building. The ground cracked in a spider-web fashion beneath his feet and he strolled forward without so much as a bruise or a limp.

"Who's that?" Crystal breathed in Alvie's ear.

"I don't know, I can't see."

"Such a shame." The man laughed coldly, drawing his sword. He put the tip to Alvie's throat. "Quite the predicament you've got there. Gifted by Apollo, but cursed at the same time."

"Wh-what'd you mean?" Alvie managed, trying to keep his breathing even. The tip of the blade pressed deeper into his throat slightly.

"You can detect trouble and help prevent it. Not very good for my line of business." Alvie stayed quiet. Miss Dolan was rooted to the spot in terror, her mortal mind trying to process what was going on and failing. "But there will be a price to pay for good deeds. There always is- the whole sacrifice gig. The blindness, the blood… that's just the beginning."

"Get away from him!" The man turned and an arrow struck him in the chest. Elsie jerked her head, a silent order to Crystal and Miss Dolan to get Alvie out of there.

"Oh, the other brat." Elsie notched another arrow and loosed; loading and firing rapidly. Alokia stood on the steps behind her, her bow in her hand while frantically waving at them to pick up the pace with her other.

"You don't really expect him to move that fast, do you?" Crystal snapped. "Look at him!" Alokia looked nervous, loading her bow and shooting at the man as well.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not that good at this sort of thing." Crystal softened slightly seeing the panic and hysteria weighing down on Alokia's shoulders.

"Kia?" Alvie asked.

"Yeah. Come on, Alvie. Mind the step." Alokia glanced up at her older sister. "Elsie!"

"Call Mom and Dad. Tell Dad there's a bomb set to go off in fifteen minutes or less. Tell Mom Scarface is here and tell her to bring the others."

"Right, right." Alokia fumbled in her pocket for her cell phone, dialling her father's number hurriedly. "Dad? Dad, you need to get here _now_." Alokia quickly explained the situation, waving at Alvie, Crystal and the dumbfounded art teacher to hurry up. "What? Dad, no! I can't do that!" Alokia paled slightly. "But, Dad-" Her protest was cut short and she suddenly locked sickly. "O- Ok, Dad. I'll try."

"What's going on?" Alvie asked quietly.

"Dad can't get here in time. He's going to talk me through how to deactivate the bomb."

"Without him seeing it?" Crystal quizzed, amazed and confused.

"It's a Hephaestus thing." Alokia mumbled, running a hand through her hair. "Get him to the field with the others. Keep walking and don't stop. We don't know the range on the bo- Elsie!" Alokia loaded, but didn't have the need to fire, Elsie kicking up and hitting the man square in the face, falling from the hold he had had her in. "Ooh, Mom was right. It's going to be a long day…"

* * *

**I have pretty much made the ending up on the spot. Gods help me come up with the next chapter! **


	19. Aw, no kaboom :(

**Honestly, the whole bomb thing was a complete and utter random thing that I wish I hadn't put now as I've been really struggling to come up with a following chapter for it. Anyway, I'm going to try. I have a bag of choccies next to me, so I'm in a good mood- kind of. Long story, don't worry.**

* * *

Alokia chewed her lip until she tasted blood. She had NO IDEA what she was doing! Leo and his big ideas…

"Kia, stay calm, OK? Have you removed the timer?"

"Yeah…"

"What'd you see?"

"Wires." Leo gave a laugh and she detected a hint of 'no shit, Sherlock' in it. "Um…"

"No, it's OK." Leo assured. He slowly started to give her instructions. There was just over ten minutes on the timer and she was slowly evading a panic attack. "OK, Kia, just breathe slowly. Calm down."

"Calm down?! Have you _lost _it?! This is a frigging _bomb_!" Under normal circumstances, Alokia wouldn't dare talk to her parents like that in fear of upsetting them. Right now, panic was coursing through her in waves.

"Yes, I know that, but if you panic, you won't be able to stop it." Alokia gave a nervous laugh. Leo hummed indecisively for a few seconds. "OK, this is like that game we used to play- with those rubber-plastic stringy things that you made into weird 3D key chain thingies."

"Dad…"

"And then we'd put them all in a big pile and you had to pick out a certain colour without moving any others."

"But Dad-"

"Trust me, Kia." Alokia hesitated.

"OK." Nine minutes. "What am I doing?"

* * *

Crystal and Ms. Dolan had successfully gotten Alvie to the field. Elsie was right behind them and firing mercilessly. The man with the scar had gained a companion- Crystal had dubbed him Evil Superman.

Blood was still pouring from Alvie's eyes and he was fighting a panic attack. His sight was still missing, blinded by the scarlet. Crystal kept reassuring him as best she could, but there were several close calls. Evil Superman could throw balls of light that set things on fire, caused an explosion or melted things into puddles. Crystal didn't want to be a puddle, as much as she loved jumping in them.

"Come on, Alvie, you're doing great. Elsie, shoot their asses already!"

"I'm. Trying." Elsie retorted through gritted teeth. "Can you see Tobias?"

"What? Why?"

"Can you just see him?! For the love of Zeus's mother, you mortals are beyond stupid."

"Hey!"

"Don't… argue…" Alvie ordered weakly. Crystal, as much as she would have loved to give Elsie a load of sass for calling her 'stupid', stayed quiet.

"Alvie!" Tobias pushed his way through the gathered students. "Oh gods, what-?" He held Alvie's blood-stained face in his hands, concern rolling off of him in waves. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Crystal answered. "I'll explain later, but you've got to help that cow. I mean Elsie." Crystal corrected, scowling. Tobias gave his younger brother a worried glance before pulling a pen from his pocket. Uncapping it, it extended into a sword and he ran to his cousin's aid.

* * *

"You should see some sort of container with wires on either end."

"Yeah."

"Don't cut the red wire. Screw movies and that sh- cr- ugh, whatever. Don't cut any wires 'cos that'll trigger a chain reaction. You have to get the core."

"The what?"

"It's in the container."

"What's the core made of?"

"I don't bloody know!" Leo sighed, feeling as stressed as his daughter. Five minutes. "OK, OK, I'm sorry. Um… is there a small hatch somewhere?"

"Uh…" Alokia did her best to check the container from all sides without pulling free any of the wires. "No!"

"Oh gods… you're going to have to cut a hatch into it. But not too deep 'cos you might hit the core and then the whole thing will blow sky high."

"OK…" With shaking hands, Alokia drew her knife. The celestial bronze cut through the metal of the container with ease. "Oh wow…"

"What?"

"It's… it's a blue sphere."

"Magic?"

"It looks like it."

"Right, um… oh gods, I hate it when people combine magic and technology. It gets way too confusing."

"Dad, four minutes!"

"Sorry! ADHD, remember?" Leo gave an exhausted sigh and Alokia could see him running a hand through his curls tiresomely. "You need to get that out."

"How?"

"Balance it on the knife. Try not to stab it though." Alokia carefully put the flat of her blade under the sphere. Blue energy crackled along the metal blade and fear slammed into her gut. Thankfully, it was stopped by the insulating leather wrapped around the handle.

Slowly and carefully, she drew the knife out. Her fear subsided a little as the sphere balanced on the knife's surface. "Don't touch it." Leo told her.

"I'm not." By the time there was three minutes, she had the sphere well out of the container and balanced on her knife. "Now what?"

"Um… I'm not sure." Leo hummed tunelessly for a few seconds in thought. "Do you have one of your mom's arrows?"

"The sea energy ones?"

"Yes."

"I think so."

"Right, put the sphere thing on the floor and shoot it."

"What?!"

"Just do it!"

* * *

Tobias cracked the hilt of his sword on Evil Superman's head and he dropped like a sack of flour. Scarface wasn't as easy to take down, hacking at Tobias viciously. Tobias could only defend himself, not given an opportunity to attack in return. Elsie was still firing arrows, but Scarface simply waved his hand and she screamed, dropping her bow and crumpling to the floor, clutching her head in agony.

"Elsie!" The slight distraction gained Tobias a solid whack in the ribs from the hilt of his opponent's sword. Crystal heard his ribs crack and the grimace on his face told her all she needed to know.

A dark shape darted down out of nowhere and smashed into the scarred man's face. A few more followed and then a dozen. Crystal had no idea what they were or what was causing them until Alvie was leaning on his crutches heavier than before.

One shape circled out before dashing back in to slice at the man's face. In that short moment, Crystal recognised the shape as an owl and it looked like it was made of dark clouds…

The owls swarmed together, creating a thick, writhing mess of storm and ice. The clouds twisted and swirled before beginning to take shape as a larger owl. It beat its large wings and dived once more at the man, its icy claws extended to slash his throat.

The man cried out in alarm, turning and running. He hit the dirt before the owl could take his head clean off. It simply swooped round and took another diving attempt at him.

After a few more of these dives, the owl managed to drag its claws along the man's back before settling on the man's leg and hamstringing him.

* * *

Alokia stared at the timer.

0:02

Two seconds later and she would have died. Despite having the core removed, the bomb still would have exploded, but without its main power source, it could have caused less damage than intentionally planned.

Her knees gave way and she sank to the floor, laughing and crying in relief and releasing the pent up stress.

"You did good, Kia." She could hear her father's proud smile in his tone. "Get yourself some coffee and a chocolate cake and just chill, OK?"

"Sounds good to me." She smiled watery. "I've got to find the others first though."

"Meh- choccie cake first." Laughing weakly, she wiped her face on her sleeve.

"Never again."

"Agreed." Leo smiled. "We'll be there in ten. Be careful."

"I'll try. Bye Dad."

"Bye Kia." She hung up and slipped her phone in her pocket before shakily getting to her feet. She cast her eyes over the deactivated bomb and self-pride swelled in her. Finally, she had done something worthy of one of her godly grandparents.

Stumbling out the door, Alokia couldn't help but smile.

A small, dark blob was floating towards her. Her smile faded with curiosity and caution.

She relaxed when she saw it was one of Alvie's storm owls.

It circled her head once before flying off, leaving clear intentions of its wish to be followed. Alokia picked up the pace and sprinted after it.

She slammed through a door, coming out onto the pathway to the school field. A larger storm owl was attacking Luke while Harvey was unconscious on the floor a few feet away. Tobias smiled when he saw her, but there was a layer of pain beneath the smile. He was massaging his ribs and wincing.

"Elsie!" Alokia ran forward, ducking the large storm owl and dropping to her knees next to her sister. She checked for a pulse, relieved to find it strong and steady. "Elsie, wake up." She fumbled in her pockets for ambrosia, but came up empty handed. "Elsie!" Alokia shouted, trying to get her sister's attention. Elsie stirred, but didn't wake.

An ear-damning screech emitted from behind her and Luke cried out in pain. Then everything was silent.

Alvie groaned in exhaustion. Alokia glanced round to see Crystal and their art teacher holding him up, even with his crutches. Tobias moved forward, checking on his brother before walking towards Alokia and Elsie. He too checked for a pulse before capping his pen and returning it to his pockets. Despite his ribs, he managed to pick Elsie up in his arms with ease while Alokia gathered her sister's bow and dropped arrows.

"Where were you?" Tobias asked her.

"Deactivating a bomb." He stared at her as if she had gone crazy. "Dad talked me through it, somehow, but I did it!" She beamed proudly and Tobias smiled.

"You Valdez lot are crazy."

"You're related to us."

"Yeah, but I'm a Jackson. I'm not included in that 'Valdez lot'."

"Oh, shut up and help Elsie." She glanced at her cousin. "And Alvie."

* * *

Their parents arrived ten minutes later. Leo and Percy used thick rope to tie the two villains up separately before dragging them off. Leo returned a short while later and hugged Alokia fiercely.

"That's my girl." He beamed. Alokia returned his hug, laughing.

"I thought exams were stressful."

"Ugh, I never really did my exams." Leo told her quietly. "Didn't stay around long enough." Alokia looked at him curiously, knowing little about her father's past. Leo didn't elaborate, declaring that he wanted to check the remainder of the bomb. He left Annabeth and Louisa to sort out Elsie and Alvie, who had been taken inside and away from prying eyes. Charlie was with her.

Tobias was sitting in the corner and munching on ambrosia. His ribs were slowly mending. Annabeth had gently washed the blood from Alvie's face and folded a clean, damp cloth over his eyes, like her husband did when Alvie woke up in the hospital. Alvie slowly relaxed, Crystal standing next to his chair and holding his hand. Louisa had used the Mist on the Art teacher and sent her out to join the rest of the school, who she would Mist later on. Right now, her main worry was Elsie. Whatever she tried, her teenage daughter didn't seem to wake up.

"Lou, stay calm." Annabeth advised.

"Oh, I'm perfectly calm!" Louisa snapped.

"Yeah, sure." Tobias gave a dry laugh. Louisa glowered at him and he wisely kept quiet.

Alvie tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair before sitting upright. The cloth dropped from his eyes; Crystal caught it, amazing herself with random ninja skills. His eyes weren't as red and there was no longer blood pouring from them. He squinted at his aunt before turning his gaze to his cousin.

"Amphitrite." He told her. Louisa frowned in confusion. "Take… Elsie… to Amphitrite."

"Why?"

"I don't… know… I just… got a… feeling…" Louisa glanced at Annabeth, who nodded.

"Fine." Louisa held out her hand, her lips moving silently. Green light extended from her palm and a few seconds later, she was holding a trident. "Mind ya eyes." She told them, taking Elsie's hand. Crystal replaced the cloth over Alvie's eyes before redirecting her gaze like the rest of them. There was a thud followed by a burst of sea green light that filled the room. When that died down, Louisa and Elsie were gone, leaving a sea breeze in their absence.

"Dad can't do that. Can he?" Tobias looked enquiringly at his mother.

"He can. Poseidon gave them the power to summon tridents that can teleport them anywhere, as long as they turn up at some beach or something- they'll end up in the sea somewhere. It's really cool." She grinned.

"Whoa- you travelled by, uh, trident and didn't invite me?" Annabeth rolled her eyes, still smiling. "No fair, Mom."

"Tobias, shut up."

"Never!" He grinned childishly. Annabeth sighed, redirecting her attention to Alvie.

"Feeling better, Alvie?" He didn't respond straight away.

"Bit." He mumbled. "My head hurts." He added. Before Annabeth could reply, the door opened.

"Found them." Leo grinned triumphantly.

"Daddy!" Charlie bounced up from his seat near Tobias and ran forward to collide with his father's legs. "And Kia! Where you go?"

"We had to check something, Charlie." Leo said kindly. "Where're Lou and Elsie?"

"They travelled by trident to go to Poseidon's place to see Amphitrite who could help Elsie." Tobias grumbled. "I want to go too."

"Where's Dad?" Alvie asked.

"He's… running an errand." Leo settled with, glancing sheepishly at Annabeth. By 'errand', he meant 'disposing of Harvey and Luke's unconscious bodies' (unless they suffocated in the boot of Percy's car, which Leo hoped for).

* * *

**Long chapter, all made up on the spot. I will not do anything random, unless I can come up with something worthwhile afterwards. Let me know what you think, PLEASE! **


	20. A weekend with Crystal- Part 1

"Bored?" Alvie nodded, sulking. Percy smiled at him. "I haven't played Black Ops in ages. Want a game of that?" Alvie brightened.

"Ok." He agreed. Percy grinned and set about setting the PS3 up.

Having a broken leg didn't give him an excuse to stay off school. He was only off today because of his 'psychic fit' last night. The bomb incident had been three days ago. Since then, Alvie hadn't started 'crying' blood again, but following some nightmares, he had woken up blind and shouting for his parents. He had been forced to sit still for two hours with a damp cloth over his eyes until his sight had fully returned, clear and sharp. Annabeth had asked him about any dreams he had had, but he couldn't remember them.

"Hey, you just shot me. That's hardly fair." Alvie smiled weakly. "Where's the trigger?" Percy smiled, using his 'Batman' voice. Alvie's smile turned genuine and less nervous. Percy stuck his tongue out cheekily.

"Hey, you just shot me. That's hardly fair." Alvie mumbled in a mimic of his father.

"You're good."

"Dad?"

"Mm?"

"Is Crystal coming over after school?"

"Uh… yeah I think so." Percy cast him a sly look and smirked. "Why?" Alvie fidgeted nervously, but didn't respond. "Tell me." Percy cast Alvie the puppy dog look. Normally, this worked with his other children, but Alvie remained blasé to it. "Ugh, fine. Meanie." Percy mumbled. "Dude, what-? You're a gaming ninja, you are."

"Are you losing, Dad?"

"Slightly." He grumbled, pretending to sulk.

* * *

Annabeth dropped in from work during her lunch hour to check on Alvie.

"Hi, sweetie."

"Hi, Mom."

"Seaweed Brain?"

"He's cheating!" Annabeth looked at her husband quizzically before noticing the PS3 controllers in their hands. She smiled, shaking her head at them.

"Honestly, Percy, you and that blooming game. Alvie, have you eaten?"

"Mm-hm."

"Percy, don't let him do this game all day. It's bad for the brain."

"OK."

"I mean it."

"OK."

"Seaweed Brain…" She warned. "I seriously mean it." Percy glanced at her, staring at her as if she seriously thought he was so stupid. "Percy, I will kill you if he sits there all day on that stupid thing."

"If it's stupid, why did you buy it?"

"Because you somehow bribed me."

"Of course I did." Percy smiled sweetly.

Annabeth sauntered off, disappearing into the office. She returned a few minutes later with some books Alvie had left in there.

"You were reading these, right?"

"I've already read them, Mom." Alvie said. "I left them there for you to read."

"Aw, thanks Alvie." She smiled, ruffling his hair. Alvie returned the smile sheepishly, gaining another sneaky kill in.

"No. Fair."

"He's sulking now, Alvie." Annabeth smiled proudly at him.

"I'm not gonna share my cookies with you anymore." Percy told him childishly.

"What cookies?" Annabeth corrected. "I distinctly remember you eating them all and me being too lazy to make some more."

"I'll make them myself." Percy defied, getting to his feet and walking into the kitchen.

"No, don't." Annabeth went after him. "Seaweed Brain, you are not burning my house down!" Alvie was distracted from his parents' playful bickering by his phone buzzing in his pocket.

"Where are you?" Crystal demanded.

"Um…"

"Are you OK?" Her tone was softer.

"Yeah, I'm good. Dad is a bit of a sore loser on Black Ops and now he wants blue cookies."

"What is it with this blue food?"

"Something about Dad's first stepdad- not Paul- saying there was no such thing. Then, um, I think Nan went out of her way to make blue food. And blue is Dad's favourite colour."

"Oh OK." Crystal paused. "Why aren't you in school anyway?"

"Stuff…" Alvie said uncertainly, his eyes fixing on the light above him.

"What sort of stuff?" Crystal asked warily. Alvie didn't reply. "That psychic stuff again?"

"Something like that…" He mumbled, frowning at the light.

"Are you OK? You sound… distracted." Alvie pulled his gaze from the light and looked back at the screen.

"I'm OK."

"Mmm…" She hummed. "Anyway, I'm coming over after school!"

"Exciting."

"You could at least sound a bit more enthusiastic."

"_Exciting_."

"Shut up, Alvie." He stayed quiet. "You are still there aren't you? You have this thing about being so quiet; you're like a goddamn ninja."

"What's wrong with ninjas?"

"Too quiet. I don't like quiet."

"You don't say."

"Is that sarcasm?" Alvie blinked. Crystal started laughing. "Oh my gods, Alvie Jackson is capable of sarcasm! At _last_!"

"Wh-? I- huh?" She laughed again.

"You're a noodle."

"Noodle?"

"Mm-hm. Speaking of noodles, I haven't had my lunch yet. I'll see you later, Alvie."

"Bye Crystal." She hung up. Alvie felt a bit better having talked to his friend. How long until school finished?

"Oh, Alvie?" His mother called from the kitchen. "Alvie?"

"Huh?"

"I ran into Joy on the way back and we've agreed for Crystal to spend the night here."

"Really?"

"Well, it's a Friday; Joy's working and neither of us saw Crystal spending the night with only William for company." Alvie smiled. "And she's staying over for the weekend as well."

"Mom, you're so cool." Annabeth laughed.

"Why thank you, Alvie. Percy, no."

"You've got eyes in the back of your head!"

"No, I just know you so well."

"Stalker!"

"Wife." Annabeth corrected.

"She's gonna kill me!"

"I will if you don't shut up."

"Alvie, help me! She's gone physco!"

"He's got a broken leg. Leave him alone."

* * *

Annabeth had found some books for Alvie to read- surprisingly ones he hadn't read before- and he lost himself in those books in the next few hours while waiting for Crystal. Percy successfully made a batch of blue cookies- on his sixth attempt- and they didn't taste that bad. Not as good as Annabeth's and definitely nowhere as good as Sally's, but they were satisfactory.

"How can you just sit there reading?" Percy asked him. After the cookies had been eaten, Percy had sat and watched Alvie read for a while, but his ADHD made that a short while. Alvie didn't register that his father had spoken until Percy poked him in the side of his head.

"Dad?"

"How can you just sit there and read for _ages_?" Percy stressed the last word, pulling a face.

"Reading's good."

"It's difficult."

"Can't you get Ancient Greek copies?"

"And it's boring."

"Find something you'd like then." Alvie told him.

"Like?"

"I don't know. Do they have books on blue cookies?" Percy smiled.

"So you do have a sense of humour." Alvie stayed quiet, recalling Crystal's… praise for his supposed sarcasm earlier.

Suddenly the doorbell started ringing. And it didn't stop. "Well, that's Lou." Percy got up and went to let his sister in.

"Where's the cripple?"

"He's not a cripple!"

"I've been telling her that all morning, but she doesn't listen."

"Damn right I don't." Louisa brushed past her brother and spotted Alvie. "Hey, Squirt."

"Hi, Lou."

"Kid's a bloody bookworm." Louisa said, turning back to her brother.

"I blame Annabeth. Came back with this stack of books and told him to get off the game." Leo wandered over to Alvie, holding a box.

"Made you choccie cake." Leo smiled. Charlie cleared his throat, walking alongside his father. "Charlie helped."

"We no share choccie cake nor-mal-ly." Charlie said slowly. "It a… a… pri… pr- Daddy?"

"Privilege."

"That." Charlie smiled. "How you spell that?"

"Um…" Leo glanced at the Poseidon twins, who looked back blankly. Damn dyslexia. Leo shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He handed the cake box to Alvie, smiling. "If anything explodes or whatever, it was Charlie."

"Explodes?" Alvie held the box gingerly. Charlie's devilish smile didn't help.

"Don't tell him that." Percy bopped Leo on the head. "Just ignore Leo, Alvie."

"Bro?"

"Lou."

"If his girlfriend is comin' over in an hour or so, why does this place look like Ares?" Thunder rumbled. Louisa ignored it, holding her brother's gaze.

"She's not my girlfriend." Alvie protested weakly, feeling his cheeks burn. Louisa gave a knowing smirk, which prompted Leo into shooing her away.

"Care to help then, Lou?"

"No. Peasant's work."

"I'm your twin. I'm not a peasant and I still help with the house work."

"You need a job."

"I have a job."

"A _day_ job."

"It's bad enough working at night, Lou. Day time is my sleepy time normally."

"Sleepy time? What are ya, five?"

"I nearly five!" Charlie smiled proudly. "I go school soon and be like Elsie and Kia!" Louisa pulled a face at this, sulking. Charlie's smile faded. "Mama?"

"Favouritism." Percy coughed. Louisa punched his arm.

"Ain't ya supposed to be cleanin', peasant?" Percy stuck his tongue out at her, massaging his arm.

* * *

The Jackson residence was considerably tidier by the time everyone got back. Max instantly sulked up to his room, not bothering to stop and saw 'hello', although Alvie was sure a flash of guilt had appeared in Max's eyes when he first saw Alvie. Sage greeted Alvie happily, smiling and hugging him- a hug that Alvie returned awkwardly. The triplets, who had been spending the day with Sally and Paul, attacked Alvie. Well, Theo and Callum did. Lilly simply drew a wobbly smiley face on his cast.

Crystal wasn't with his tide of siblings. Annabeth told him that Joy had picked her up and would bring her over while on the way to work. "About five, half five." Annabeth told him. She picked up the book he had been reading- _The Forgotten Legion_ by Ben Kane. "Any good?" She asked.

"Violent. Lots of swearing. But it's good."

"I might borrow it after you." Alvie nodded and she returned the book. Within seconds, he was reading again. Reading helped him relax and these particular books helped him to understood Ancient Rome, Roman battle techniques and some Roman history as well, all of it linking up to make a great story.

He didn't notice Crystal until she bopped him on the head, making him jump.

"Hi Alvie." She smiled sweetly at him.

"Oh… hi, Crystal."

"You and those bloody books." Alvie stared at her. "Sorry if I'm not such a big fan on reading." Joy waved at Alvie from by the front door. Alvie waved back and Joy beamed. "Mom's your, uh, biggest fan apparently."

"Fan?"

"Yeah. You know- Team Alvie or whatever." Alvie bit his lip, glancing over at his friend's mother who was now thanking Annabeth and Percy greatly, hugging the pair of them.

"Crystal, be good!"

"Are you doubting me, Mom?" Joy just rolled her eyes, waved again and left.

Alvie set his book down and held his hands out to Crystal. She instantly helped him to his feet while Theo and Callum dutifully appeared and handed him his crutches.

"Thanks." Alvie smiled. "I hate that."

"What? Not getting up on your own?" He nodded and Crystal laughed. "Oh well." Alvie noticed the rucksack she had with her. "Alvie, I can carry it. You can't." She picked his book up and read the description on the back. "These people have weird names. I mean- Romulus?"

"That was the name of the original founder of Rome."

"Fascinating." Crystal replied, clearly un-fascinated. Alvie missed that memo, following her upstairs. He collapsed on his bed and lay down across it. "Comfy?"

"Mm-hm." Crystal grabbed his wrists and pulled him into a sitting position before moving a stool to prop his leg up. "How long until this thing comes off? It's annoying."

"Couple of weeks." Alvie's shoulders slouched in defeat. "Oy, chin up." There was a knock on the door and Percy poked his head round.

"Everything OK?"

"Alvie doesn't like the cast."

"No, I figured." Percy smiled reassuringly. "Blue cookies will make him smile though." Alvie did smile and Percy looked triumphant. "Awesome. I would have you make them yourself, but your mom said you'd be a hazard in the kitchen on those things." He nodded at the crutches.

"He's a hazard anyway."

"That's you, Crystal."

"Of course it is." She smiled proudly.

"Oh and Tobias is on his way over, so be warned." Percy smiled. Alvie and Crystal pulled faces at him and his smile broadened. "I'll be back in a bit with those cookies." He left.

"I have CDs for you."

"CDs? Which CDs?" The last CD Crystal had given him had been a Justin Bieber one. She didn't like Justin Bieber- (good girl)- but she thought it would annoy Alvie. And it did. A lot.

"Don't worry, you'll like these ones." She delved into her rucksack and pulled a stack of CDs out-Adam Lambert, Neyo, Adele, Pink and Justin Timberlake.

"Don't know, haven't heard, some songs are OK, rock chick and not sure." He said, rubbing at his forehead.

"You OK?" He nodded. "Look, if you go blind or start crying blood on me, we're going to have issues. This is a new T-shirt!" He looked bewildered and she smiled. "I'm just kidding. William's loaded. He doesn't notice the odd ten bucks disappearing here and there."

"You steal money?"

"Only from William. I don't like him."

"You'll be in big trouble if he found out."

"Which is why he won't find out." She rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, Alvie, you silly billy."

* * *

**This is mainly a filler chapter, but I am working on more, I promise. Hope this is OK and sorry if it's too drabbley. **


	21. Midnight attack

**I'm updating twice tonight on this because it's the only idea I have at the moment.**

* * *

"Crystal?"

"Mm?" Alvie was silent for a few seconds. They were meant to be sleeping, but both of them were hyped up on sugar, thanks to the three dozen blue cookies Annabeth had baked earlier. "Alvie?"

"Did… did you ever meet your real dad?" He asked slowly, as if he was prying too much and fearful of upsetting her.

"No. Mom told me he left a short while after I was born." She propped herself up on her elbows to meet his silver gaze. "Why? You're not going to do any creepy psychic stuff, are you?" Alvie mutely shock his head. "It's creepy in a cool way, but it's still creepy." Crystal assured.

"OK."

"You didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"Why did you ask about my real dad?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "Something to talk about, I guess." Crystal settled back down, staring at the ceiling.

"I kind of hate him for leaving Mom like that with a baby. And then we got stuck with William." She felt Alvie's eyes on her. "But the other part of me wants to meet him. I mean, he can't be worse than William, right?"

"What would you do if you met him?"

"I don't know. That depends what he's like." Alvie was quiet for a few seconds.

"We could find him."

"We?"

"I can help."

"What? Use your psychic powers?" She smiled teasingly.

"Maybe. I can't control them."

"You should try. Imagine if you could get lottery numbers with a thought."

"Dad's always asking for lottery numbers. I think he's trying to make me feel better."

"Your dad's awesome."

"He's crazy."

"Better than William by a long-shot." Alvie didn't respond. He was quiet for a short while and Crystal figured he had finally fallen asleep.

It took her a while to discover he hadn't fallen asleep, but was staring into space with milky white eyes. She sat up, reaching up to take his hand. His skin was icy cold and he was shaking. "Oh gods, Alvie…" His hand tightened on hers, looking for comfort and support. "It's OK, Alvie, just stay calm." She knelt next to him, gently running a hand through his hair repeatedly in attempts to calm him.

A sudden knock on the door made her jump. Alvie whimpered and the door creaked open. Percy cautiously walked in, wearing an old T-shirt and pyjama trousers while armed with a… pen? Crystal didn't give it much thought as he slipped the pen in his pocket and moved forward to comfort Alvie.

"Hey, buddy." Percy said quietly, gripping Alvie's shoulder. Alvie tensed and closed his eyes, grimacing. Crystal moved over as Percy shifted and sat Alvie up. Percy sat on the edge of the bed and held Alvie in his arms. A sea scent gradually increased in the room, a relaxing and comforting sensation gently washing over them. Crystal felt her own nerves subsiding and she saw Alvie visibly relaxing. Annabeth wandered in and sat behind Alvie. Percy let Alvie go, passing him to his mother's arms, before leaving. He returned a minute later with a bowl of water and a cloth. This bit Crystal was getting used to. Everything before- not so much.

Annabeth was running a hand through Alvie's hair, like Crystal had been moments ago.

"It's OK, Alvie, we've got you." Annabeth murmured. She glanced at Percy and some unspoken conversation surged between them. Crystal was about to ask them what was going on when she had a sudden urge to remain quiet.

Alvie tensed, bunching his fists and grimacing deeply.

"Bad…" He mumbled. "Window…" Percy drew his pen from earlier and padded towards the window. Crystal nearly died in shock when he uncapped the pen and a bronze sword lengthened in his hand. Using the tip of the blade, he flicked the curtains open.

He couldn't see anything.

Nothing at all.

It was just inky blackness.

There were no surrounding buildings, no street lights, no cars, no people, no nothing. He couldn't hear anything either. Even at night, his hometown was fairly noisy. He glanced back at Annabeth, confused.

That's when the glass shattered and inky blackness flowed into the room, like liquid shadows. Percy stumbled back as the substance tried to wrap around his ankles. He slashed at the stuff, but it was like slicing through water.

"Crystal, sit with him." Annabeth ordered. They switched places, Annabeth pulling a knife from a drawer in Alvie's bedside table. She moved quickly to help her husband, pulling him away from the ooze.

Alvie's breathing turned ragged and he let out half-whimpers, half-groans of pain every now and then. She mumbled words of reassurance to him, but they appeared to have no effect. He cried out as the inky blackness twisted up Percy's sword and around in his arm. Percy gritted his teeth, seeming paler. Annabeth was dodging around the substance rolling after her. She was being pushed back and couldn't get around this thing to help her husband.

Alvie grabbed blindly at the air with his left hand, complaining in pain and annoyance as he failed to find anything.

"Alvie?" Crystal breathed, confused. Alvie mumbled something incoherently. He stopped grabbing at things and opened his hand, revealing his palm to the ceiling. An orb of pure, crystal white energy hovered there. He slowly relaxed in his arms and she soon realised it was from exhaustion.

He flicked the orb in his parents' direction and it struck the darkness creeping towards them.

An inhumane, deathly screech made their ears ring and the thing drew back so quickly it was as if it had never been there.

Percy's sword clattered to the floor. Where the darkness had crept up his arm, deep gashes had been carved in overlapping spirals. Blood flowed down in scarlet torrents. Alvie didn't see this, his left hand reaching for Crystal's.

"It's gone." Crystal said, keeping her voice as steady as possible while Annabeth moved forward to steady Percy, who had started swaying on the spot. "You done it, don't worry, it's gone."

Alvie's breathing slowly steadied and he dozed off in her arms, his head on her shoulder. The damp cloth over his eyes had fallen. Crystal gently laid him back against the pillows and replaced the cloth. Annabeth sat Percy on the end of the bed, grabbing the water bowl. She dipped Percy's injured hand in the bowl. Crystal watched in silent amazement as the water slid up his arm in a thin, shimmering layer. His wounds slowly healed and the blood washed away. Percy sighed in relief, his shoulders relaxing.

"What's going on?"

"I'm not sure." Annabeth said, holding Percy's face in her hands and scanning his eyes for any more hints of trouble or pain. "Percy?"

"I don't know." He got shakily to his feet, muttering in Ancient Greek. The sea breeze returned and it was tinged with sea green. The glass in the window repaired itself and a sense of stability and safety appeared in the room. "But I don't like it."

* * *

**OK, that's it for now. The last bit was made up- I just wanted a bit of trouble if I'm honest :D **


	22. Outing

"Mine."

"Hey!" Tobias grinned casually at Alvie, scrunching the blue pancake up in his hand and scoffing it. He turned back around and came face-to-face with his mother. She had her arms folded and was watching her eldest son expectantly, with that look that he was so busted.

"Sorry, Alvie." Tobias mumbled through his mouthful of pancake and keeping his eyes on his mother. Annabeth raised her eyebrows slightly. "Um, I'll buy you a book or something?" Annabeth nodded in approval. Tobias looked back at Alvie. "You're getting me in trouble."

"I don't need to. You're perfectly fine on your own doing that." Tobias studied his brother, half a pancake hanging out of his mouth. His gaze swivelled to Crystal before he looked at Annabeth.

"He's getting a bit of attitude." He told her.

"About bloody time." Annabeth smiled at Alvie.

"I blame Crystal." Tobias shrugged. "Dad!"

"What?"

"Tobias want coffee!"

"Tobias get it himself!" Percy shot back. Tobias bounced off and went to play fight with his father.

Crystal dropped another pancake on Alvie's plate, making him look at her blankly.

"You're a skinny midget. Eat up." Alvie blinked at her. Crystal smiled sweetly.

"I'm not a midget." He muttered, reaching for the sugar bowl. Max surprised him by pushing it towards him slightly. Max hadn't been nice to him in ages, even if it was something as simple as moving a sugar bowl closer. Max didn't look up from his breakfast, not registering what he had done or simply not looking round to acknowledge his brother.

"A'vie!" Alvie managed to pull his gaze from his brother and looked at Lilly. She smiled at him, reaching out with her small hand. Alvie hesitated before holding her fingers lightly. Her smile brightened. "A'vie." She said again, sitting back in her seat and poking her blue pancake.

"So, what have you two got planned today?" Annabeth asked, squeezing Max's shoulder. His random act of kindness hadn't gone unnoticed by her, but he didn't react to her gesture.

"Alvie's probably going to read _as usual_ and I'm probably going to annoy him like crazy." Alvie muttered something into his cup of orange juice. "What?" Crystal demanded. "What did you say?" Alvie's eyes glinted cheekily above the rim of the beaker and he made no intentions of telling her anything. Crystal noticed this and smirked. "Tell me or I'll see how big a fire I can make with your books." The gleam in Alvie's eyes faded and Crystal laughed triumphantly. Neither of them noticed Annabeth smiling at them knowingly.

* * *

Their plan for the day was to walk around and see how many people Alvie could 'accidently' trip up with his crutches. Well, that was Crystal's idea, but Alvie didn't want to hurt anybody.

"Can we get doughnuts instead?"

"You just had breakfast!"

"You were trying to fatten me up anyway." Alvie looked up, scanning the ceiling.

"You OK?" He didn't respond, stopping abruptly and studying the ceiling. "Please tell me nothing weird and monstrous is going to crash through the ceiling and make pancakes out of us?" Alvie shook his head and carried on. Crystal hurried after him. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure?" Alvie nodded. Crystal made to press him, but he changed the subject, asking where the bakery was. "Alvie, if something cray-cray is going to happen, I want to damn well know."

"I don't know, Crystal." He admitted. "Maybe I'm still freaking out after last night." His words had sense in them, so she stayed quiet.

Ten minutes later, they were sat on a bench in the mall, watching people wander by while munching on iced buns. They ate in silence, which was unusual as Crystal normally would quiz him on something or start a random conversation. Alvie just sat there, staring into space while eating.

"Are you mad at me?" He didn't register her words, making her tuck her hand into the crook of his elbow. He startled, his head snapping round in panic. He quickly calmed when he saw Crystal's worried expression. "What's the matter?" She asked, touching his cheek gently, searching his eyes.

"No, I'm not mad at you." He mumbled, glancing down.

"Talk to me, Alvie. What's wrong?" Alvie tilted his head, resting it on her shoulder. Crystal linked her arm through his and held his hand, lacing their fingers together. "Does your leg hurt?"

"No. It's itchy."

"Still?" She smiled weakly. He nodded.

"Still." He confirmed. Crystal laughed softly. "Sorry." She frowned.

"For what?"

"Bringing you into all this… cray-cray."

"I live, breathe and eat cray-cray, Alvie. It's cool. And it gets me away from William." Alvie turned his head and fixed her with those silvery-grey eyes. "You don't need to apologize."

"Do my eyes deceive me?" The pair glanced up and saw Vicky and Sophia smiling at them. Crystal felt her face warming and was sure Alvie was the same.

Vicky squealed happily, gaining some very strange looks from passers-by. Sophia smacked her arm lightly in warning as Crystal and Alvie let go of each other. Sophia smiled warmly and reassuringly at them.

"Don't worry, I won't tell Tobias. He'll go nuts. Even worse than this one." She nodded at Vicky, who was smiling like a proud big sister. "So… how long?" Sophia sat next to Alvie and Vicky next to Crystal.

"We're not… we're not…" Alvie stammered.

"We're just friends." Crystal replied flatly. Sophia waved it off disbelievingly.

"You can tell me anything."

"We're just _friends_." Crystal emphasised.

"How boring." Vicky sighed. "I was hoping for some gossip then."

"Vicky, we talked about the gossiping."

"'Cos you're boring as well." Sophia glowered at her. Vicky huffed, but stayed silent.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Alvie asked, masterfully changing the topic.

"Tobias's birthday present. Any ideas?" Sophia looked desperate.

"Uh… snowboard? When he was ten, he did indoor snowboarding and wants to go back to that." Sophia snapped her fingers, her eyes brightening.

"And I could do a holiday to some mountain-y place for him to do proper snowboarding! Alvie, you're a genius!" Sophia hugged him tightly. "Come on Vicky, we've got a holiday to plan." Vicky smiled.

"Let's leave the two lovebirds, in other words."

"Vicky!" Sophia scolded. She stood and pointed sharply, spreading her arm out to the side. "We're. _Going_."

"OK, OK." Vicky sighed, rolling her eyes. "Bossy much…" The two friends left. Crystal and Alvie looked at each, Alvie's cheeks reddening again.

"Want to go to the toy shop?" Crystal asked, trying to pass the tension. Alvie nodded.

* * *

Despite everything, Alvie ended up buying Crystal a stuffed giraffe toy with floppy limbs.

"I'm going to call her Stripes."

"Stripes?"

"Why not?" Crystal smiled. "You didn't have to."

"I wanted to though." Alvie mumbled. "You do like it, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Crystal beamed at him. "She's going to get place of pride on my bed." Alvie smiled slightly at that. "What'd you want for your birthday?"

"It's ages away."

"So? I like planning ahead."

"Mm-hm." Alvie hummed disbelievingly. Crystal attacked him with the giraffe. "We should be getting back. Mom'll flip if I'm five minutes late."

"Ooh, Mommy's going to worry about her precious baby!" Crystal glowered at the speaker. She recognised him from school, but as he was in Max's grade, she wasn't sure what his name was. He wasn't in school much either- playing truant, temporarily expelled or just not coming in at all. Once or twice a fortnight would he actually walk into school for a lesson, not even that.

Alvie didn't respond, as usual, but Crystal did.

"At least his mom isn't a crackpot sitting around on her fat, ugly ass all day!" The kid bristled, bunching his fists. He took a step towards Crystal, which is when Alvie acted. He slammed the butt of one his crutches in the kid's stomach, nearly unbalancing himself in the process. Winded, the kid staggered back, but still managed to glare murderously at the pair of them.

"It's a shame that car didn't kill you." He spat. Crystal stormed past Alvie and slapped the kid as hard as she could.

"Leave him alone or I swear there will be hell to pay." She snarled. The kid blinked at her, confused and… scared. Alvie felt a chill run down his spine, something nagging him at the back of his mind, but he wasn't sure what or why.

"C'mon, Crystal." He muttered, nudging the back of her leg gently with his crutch. With great reluctance, Crystal turned from pummelling the kid and followed Alvie out, still fuming.

"People like him need shooting." She growled. Alvie stopped and looked at her. Crystal held his gaze, her anger raging under the surface.

"Calm down." He said. "Please." The time it took for her to calm down was the longest time Alvie had ever held her gaze.

"Ok." She smiled, showing him that she had harnessed her temper. Alvie looked relieved. "Stripes." She said quietly, her smile still in place as she jostled the giraffe toy at him. He returned her smile. "We should go."

* * *

"Have fun?"

"Crystal attacked someone in the toy shop." Alvie replied casually, clumsily slicing the last of his roast chicken into bits. Annabeth frowned, turning from the washing up to look at Alvie and Crystal.

"You attacked someone?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"They were being mean to Alvie."

"Some random person?"

"He attacked him too!" Crystal protested.

"Alvie?!" Alvie muttered something about Crystal being in trouble 'again'. "You slapped him in the face."

"You hit him with those."

"In the stomach." Alvie mumbled. "With the end. I winded him."

"So?"

"You slapped him in the face!"

"OK- you both attacked him! That's enough." Annabeth sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Honestly, you two are as bad as Tobias."

"I take offence to that. No-one is as bad as me. Ooh, cookies!"

"No!" Annabeth hit Tobias's hand with the wooden spoon. Tobias instantly put on his puppy dog face, but Annabeth held the spoon as a weapon. "They're for Alvie and Crystal and they're _hot_."

"Like me." Tobias grinned. Annabeth bonked him on the head with the spoon.

"You're your father's son! Out!"

"No!" Percy walked in. "Dad, tell her. I wanted a cookie."

"What are you? Five?"

"Mentally, yes." Tobias smiled. Percy rolled his eyes. "Can I have the cookie mix leftovers instead?" Tobias asked his mother. She held the mixing bowl out to him and shooed him out the kitchen.

"Your son." She pointed after Tobias. "And your son." She pointed at Alvie.

"What did Alvie do?" Percy asked, sneaking a cookie from the tray when Annabeth's back was turned.

"He and Crystal attacked someone in a toy shop." Percy grinned.

"Nice giraffe." He said, biting into the cookie. Annabeth noticed and glowered at him. Percy gave an innocent smile before Annabeth chased him out of the kitchen with the wooden spoon as well. They heard Tobias laughing before Annabeth closed the door. She pressed her back to the door, sighing in defeat.

"Those two will be the death of me."

"Keep me around and you can make that three." Crystal smiled. Annabeth returned it weakly before tipping the rest of the cookies onto a plate and putting them in front of them.

"No more trouble, please."

"No guarantees, but we'll try." Alvie nodded in agreement.

* * *

**Ooh, I really want to put up what I've got planned, but it'll be too early if I do it for that chapter and I don't want to do a time-skip… any ideas for me to do? I'm running out of filler ideas and could do with help! :D **


	23. OMGs!

**I forgot to reply to some guest reviews yesterday- SORRY ABOUT THAT! **

**To the other me- I may love choccie and violence, but I don't like someone stealing my name 'cos it looks like I'm reviewing on my own story and even more crazy than normal. **

**To Guest- thank you so much! **

**If I missed any guest reviews, I'm sorry! Just shout at me or something. **

**And this is so typical- cleaning my room today, I found an old writing book with ideas that I've been meaning to use and found out I'd written meaner ideas for Alvie's story! I can't do those now! *very upset***

**But I can still use some of them. I found a bit for Elsie's story, but it's not much, so I don't know if that'll go up soon.**

* * *

"Right, you sit there and just read, OK?" Alvie stared at his older brother. "Don't give me that look." Tobias sulked. Alvie continued to stare at him. Eventually, Tobias smiled and ruffled Alvie's hair. "Shout if you need me, OK?"

"OK. Thanks." Crystal had shown an interest in diving and there was no-one better to teach her than Tobias. He had taught Sophia after all and she had been terrified of jumping from the edge. Crystal had more fire and was eager to get to the top board _now_.

Alvie was sat about a metre from the pool, on a wide ceramic bench that ran the length of the wall- nearly twenty metres, give or take a few. Windows all along the wall allowed people in the café behind to watch swimmers, although there was no-one there seeing as the pool was still closed to the public. He had several books with him and spent a few minutes deciding which one he would read first.

He lost himself in the world of Harry Potter for over an hour before Crystal's cold hand rested on his shoulder.

"Hi!" She beamed. Her silvery-blonde hair was dripping wet and scraped back into a high ponytail. Her soft blue swimsuit bought out the colour in her eyes.

"Hi." Alvie replied quietly, moving his books so she didn't drip water on them.

"Diving's so cool!" She sat next to him, picking up her white towel and drying her face on it. "You're going to have to do some when your leg's better." Alvie bit his lip nervously. "You're not scared of heights, are you?"

"No, I just… not a diving… person…"

"No, you're a book person." She rolled her eyes at him, wrapping the towel around her shoulders. "The pool's cold though. I'd have thought that considering your dad is a son of Poseidon, he could magically heat the water or something."

"He used to, but he doesn't come here as often."

"Why?" Alvie shrugged.

"It's Dad." He said, as if that summed everything up.

"I won't be much longer. Tobias said I could have one go on the high board, but then he has work." Alvie just nodded. Crystal stood up, dropping her towel on his head. Alvie removed it in time to see her jump in the pool, splashing Tobias.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Alvie was waiting outside the changing rooms for Crystal. He had his bag of books at his feet- Tobias had carried it out for him.

"Alvie, books don't jingle."

"What?"

"Books don't jingle." Tobias repeated, shaking Alvie's bag. "What have you got in there?" Alvie just stared blankly at him, but he felt the heat rising in his cheeks. "Ooh, is it a pressie for me?"

"No."

"Aw…" Tobias pulled a sulky face.

"It's not your birthday." Alvie told him.

"I know, but I'm your lovely big brother. I should get compensation or whatever."

"OK." Tobias smiled.

"So, what is it that's making the jingly noise?"

"Haven't you got work?"

"I'll go when you answer my question."

"You'll be late." Tobias shrugged.

"I will go through your bag if I have to." He warned playfully, smirking.

"It's a present for Crystal." Alvie mumbled, blushing further. Tobias grinned.

"What is it?" He asked excitedly.

"It's not anything special…" Alvie insisted quietly.

"Can I see?" Tobias asked. His younger brother hesitated. "I won't tell her or laugh or anything, I promise." Alvie found himself nodding, much to Tobias's delight.

"I thought you had work."

"Goddammit!" Tobias exclaimed.

"What?" Crystal blinked at him. "Did you forget?"

"No."

"What then?"

"Nothing." Tobias smiled sweetly, returning Alvie's bag to him. "We are having serious words later, alright?" Alvie nodded. Tobias grinned lopsidedly, quickly hugged the pair of them before running up the stairs two at a time.

"Well come on then, walk me home." Crystal smiled, taking his bag from him. He tensed. "Are you OK?"

"Mm-hm."

"I'm not going to steal your bag, don't worry." She looked up at the ceiling, like 'what an idiot', but she was smiling in amusement. "Or do you have a million dollars in here for me?" She started rummaging through his bag.

"Wait-" Alvie started, but she had already found the white box wrapped in lime green tissue paper with a silver bow amongst the books.

"What's this? Ooh, it has my name on!" She glanced up at Alvie, who looked nervous. "I wasn't supposed to get this yet, was I?"

"Um… no, it's OK."

"Are you sure? I can wait for a little while."

"No, I was going to give it to you today anyway."

"Promise?" He nodded. "So I can open it?" He nodded again. "Positive?" She teased, drawing out the word with a cheeky smile.

"Before I change my mind." He replied quietly. Crystal gently tugged at the bow, unravelling it before ripping away the paper. She held the white box in her palm.

"Are you sure you're sure?"

"Yeah." She watched him sceptically, carefully and teasingly removing the lid slowly. _Slowly_.

"Oh wow!" She squealed when she saw what he had gotten her. It was a silver charm bracelet with a four leaf clover, a giraffe (her favourite animal), a trident and an owl for charms. In the centre was a slightly bigger charm- a 3D emerald green heart.

She felt Alvie watching her anxiously, chewing his lip, but barely reacted to this, studying the bracelet from all angles. "I- Alvie- it's-" She ended with an ecstatic squeal and hugged him fiercely. "I love it!" He sighed in relief, tension leaving his shoulders. She laughed, pulling back. Her arms were around his neck. "You're the best." She told him. "Come on, I can't wait to show Mom!"

* * *

Alvie walked her home. She kept studying her new bracelet happily and loved it more with each passing second.

"Cinema tomorrow?" Alvie asked.

"And McDonalds." He nodded in agreement. "I love it!" She squealed, shaking her hand to make the charms jingle. Alvie smiled. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She chanted happily.

"You're crazy."

"Says the one that jumped in front of a car."

"Hey, I was helping."

"I know, I was just teasing." Crystal studied his face. "Why can't all guys be like you?" Alvie looked at her quizzically. "I mean, you read, know how to do a girl's hair, you can cook some things, you buy nice pressies," She shook her hand again, making him smile, "and you risked yourself for me." Her tone was more serious at this last bit. "I owe you my life, Alvie. Except my left wrist." She said, deadly serious and fixing him with steely eyes. "You nearly broke that."

"Sorry." He mumbled, looking sheepish. "I didn't mean to, I just- why are you laughing?"

"Mom was right- you're adorable."

"I'm not adorable." He muttered, his cheeks fading pink.

"Yes. You. Are." Crystal glanced round and saw her house ten paces away. "Ooh…" She complained. Alvie bumped her with his shoulder.

"Tomorrow." He reminded her, lifting her spirits instantly.

"OK. Tomorrow." They stopped in front of her steps.

"I would walk you to the door properly, but I'd never get back down those steps." Crystal laughed.

"You're getting a sense of humour, Mr. Jackson."

"Thanks. I think."

"It's a good thing!" Crystal insisted. "You're not so shy and jumpy. Well, not as much as you used to be, but hey." She waved it off, making the charms jingle again. She beamed at that. "Thank you!" She surprised both of them by kissing his cheek. "See you tomorrow." She smiled, bounding up the stairs before he could say anything. She waved at him as she pushed the door open. He nodded back, looking stunned. Crystal closed the door after a final wave, her heart racing as she came to terms with what she'd done.

She kissed Alvie! (On the cheek).


	24. Daddy info

**To Guest- calm down and just breathe. You sound like Joy. And eventually- PATIENCE!**

* * *

"I saw that!"

"Mom!"

"I saw that!" Joy bounced up to her. "You love Alvie, you love Alvie!" She chanted, dancing around her.

"Mom!" Crystal demanded, heat rising in her cheeks. She stopped her mother by holding her hand out. "Look what he got me." Joy breathed in sharply as she studied the bracelet. "Mom, breathe."

Joy just squealed excitedly, hugging Crystal fiercely and dancing about, making Crystal stumble around.

"He likes you!"

"Mom!"

"What is going on?" The dancing stopped. Crystal felt dizzy but she managed to meet William's gaze easily, standing her ground and bracing her shoulders.

"Alvie got me a present and Mom's doing her hyperactive reaction thing again." Crystal held her hand out to show him the bracelet. His eyes narrowed.

"Take it off."

"No."

"Now."

"It was a present from her friend. She doesn't have to take it off if she doesn't want to." William glared at Joy. Crystal glared at William. "Crystal, invite Alvie round for a sleepover weekend. I want to talk to him." Joy's smile had returned, mischievous and sly.

"Oh gods…"

"Go!" Joy shooed her away before turning to face her husband. He was glowering at her murderously. "She's allowed friends, William."

"Not that one."

"Why not?"

"There's something wrong with him?"

"Wrong with him? What? Is it because he's not like all the other boys? The ones that shout, swear, smoke, drink and use girls for what they can get? He's sweet, he cares, he's clever and he makes her happy. What's wrong with that?"

William grabbed her upper arm, shoving his face in hers.

"Do _not_," He spat, "defy me. That boy isn't right in the head- there's something wrong with him and his family. I intend to get to the bottom of it."

"Alvie and his family are the nicest bunch of people I've ever met." Joy tried to snatch her arm away, but his grip, digging his fingers in.

"I'm warning you, Joy."

"Mom, this weekend?" William let her go. Joy glowered at him before turning to her daughter who appeared in the doorway, the phone to her ear

Plastering on her smile, Joy nodded. Crystal returned the smile. "Thanks, Mom!" Crystal bounced away again.

"I will find out." William warned.

"Go on then."

* * *

"How about now?"

"No!" Crystal laughed. Alvie pulled a face. "Look, you can ask every five seconds if you want to, but it won't speed time up. You're stuck with that thing for another three weeks." She nodded at his cast. Alvie didn't like it. He had a serious itch on his shin and he couldn't get it. "OK, what about this one?"

"No. Frilly."

"Frilly? That's your excuse?" He shrugged meekly. Crystal flipped a couple of pages. "OK, what about that one?"

"Lace."

"Ugh…"

"Try something that's not girly, frilly, lacy or pink." She glowered at him. "What?"

"This is my mom's birthday present, remember?"

"Does she like that stuff?"

"I hope so. I want to get her something nice that'll last her."

"Get her a puppy."

"With Pebbles?" Crystal's black cat meowed from where he was curled on her pillow. Crystal whistled and the cat opened his eyes. "Come here, Pebbles." The cat stood, stretched and padded over, climbing over Alvie's lap to settle in Crystal's.

"Get her a kitten."

"What if it's one she doesn't like though? And what if she doesn't want one?"

"Paint something for her."

"I can't paint."

"My aunt can."

"What? Lou?" Alvie nodded. Crystal tried to get her head around the fact that Alvie's violent and tempered aunt could ever do something as nice as painting. "Are you sure?" Alvie nodded again, a smile teasing the corners of his lips. "That's not very Lou-ish."

"You get used to it after a while. It's like her… her calming thing."

"Like you with reading."

"Yeah, like that." He agreed. "She paints and draws all the time." He paused. "When's your mom's birthday?"

"Two weeks."

"I could ask to borrow some of Lou's sketch books and bring them into school to show you."

"Now that's a plan." Crystal smiled. "Would she mind painting something for mom though?"

"She might charge you."

"How much?" Alvie shrugged.

"Lou's difficult." He replied. Crystal closed the catalogue and chucked it on the floor. Pebbles protested as she shifted closer to Alvie, jumping off her lap and miserably pacing a circle on her bed before Crystal sat still. Pebbles quickly settled on her lap again, purring happily as Crystal scratched behind his ears.

"Stupid cat." She muttered, smiling. Pebbles was too busy purring to react.

A knock on the door interrupted them. "Password!" Crystal ordered.

"Crystal, it's me."

"Password." Crystal insisted.

"I'm your mother!"

"_Password_."

"Ugh, fine." Joy paused. "William is a fatheaded pig and smells like poopy cat litter on a summer's day." She said quietly.

"Enter." Crystal smiled.

"That's a long password."

"It was that or William's a two-faced bastard."

"Language!" Joy scolded as she walked in, the door closing behind her. Crystal gave an angelic smile as Pebbles opened his eyes, seeing another candidate to pet him. He jumped down and circled around Joy's legs, purring happily.

Joy knelt to pet the stupid cat, looking up at the two friends sat on Crystal's bed. "So, Alvie, I've been meaning to talk to you?" Alvie's eyes gained a nervous glimmer. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble." Joy assured, laughing softly. Alvie still looked nervous, but he had relaxed a fraction, which was a good thing. "This bracelet you got for my annoying daughter."

"I'm not annoying."

"You are, you can be and you have been." Joy replied simply. "Anyway… I want one!" Joy beamed. "Well, not an exact copy of it, obviously. I prefer pale blues and pretty little charms, like flowers and hearts and so on and so forth." Crystal glanced at Alvie- birthday present material right there. Alvie didn't seem to register that, or, if he did, he didn't show it. "But," Joy poked Alvie's good leg, "do not spend all your money on my daughter. She's a madam as it is."

"I don't mind." Alvie told her.

"I do. You're lovely enough, Alvie, you don't need to buy pressies for Crystal to prove that."

"But… I thought that's what friends did…" Alvie trailed off, looking uncertain. "Buy presents for each other."

"Well, they can, but you don't need to." Crystal smiled at Alvie. "Not that I'm complaining." She shook her hand and made the charms jingle. Alvie smiled weakly. "No-one in my old school was as nice as you. Looking back on it all, they were all little sh-" Crystal caught herself, looking warily at her mother. "Bums." She settled with. She shrugged it off. "I didn't like that school anyway."

"Explains why you got kicked out."

"You got kicked out?" Joy gasped, mocking surprise.

"You never told him?! Shame on you, Crystal!" Crystal smiled sweetly.

"What'd you do?" Alvie asked.

"Well…" Crystal's smile changed, glowing with self-pride. "I may or may not have accidently stuck up posters of all the bullies and the teachers that I didn't like with captions of what I thought of them. I was, um, _disgracing students and members of staff loyal to the school_." Crystal scoffed. "They did that themselves. I was just telling them the truth, like they always told me to."

"You're not going to do that again, are you?"

"No, I like this school." She paused. "More than the last one anyway."

"Well, not for much longer then." Joy shook her head at her daughter. "Honestly, Crystal, where did you get it from?"

"Get what?"

"This… rebellious streak?"

"I don't know, Mom." Crystal replied honestly. Joy sighed.

"You remind me of your dad."

"My dad?" Crystal's smile faltered into curiosity. "What was he like, Mom?" Joy smiled sadly, her eyes clouding over as she recalled fond times.

"He was so kind, but had a wicked sense of humour. Very troublesome too."

"Why did he leave?" Joy's smile faded slightly.

"I don't know." She replied miserably. Crystal glanced at Alvie, wondering if he would have a psychic moment. He was studying Joy carefully, like he would study something in a museum.

"Him or William?"

"Him." Joy answered without hesitation.

"You ever tried to find him again?"

"The stupid idiot didn't have a cell phone or a laptop or computer for emailing. He phoned me from the landline every night at six and we met up every Saturday to go to the cinema or bowling or something and then we'd go and get lunch."

"Why William?" Joy sighed.

"Another time, maybe." Pebbles butted his head against Joy's stomach and meowed. "Hungry, kitty?" Joy cooed. "Come on then." Pebbles jumped down as Joy got to her feet. She brushed cat hair from her trousers before walking out. "I'll do dinner in an hour." She called over her shoulder.

"Anything?" Crystal asked once her mother was out of earshot.

"Fuzzy." Alvie responded. He looked at her. "It's like she buried the memories 'cos they hurt or something."

"I think Mom loved my dad."

"She still does."

"Where is he?" Alvie shook his head.

"I didn't get much."

"Are you a mind-reader now?"

"I'm getting the hang of it." He replied, smiling slightly. "Mom and Dad have a friend- Rachel. She's the Oracle." Crystal looked at him quizzically, so he quickly explained. "She does all the prophecies for demigod quests and whatnot, but she has some psychic powers, I guess."

"So, you're learning to control all this?" He shrugged. "What are the lottery numbers?" He smiled.

"Oh, if only I knew."


	25. Psychic powers

**To the other me, who has changed their name to ApolloArtemis79, I thank you. **

**To Guest- Don't give me ideas! You know what I'm like… and THEY MIGHT. *evil laugh***

* * *

"You could move stuff with your mind!"

"No, Crystal, I-" Crystal didn't hang around to listen, rushing off and bouncing around her room. She returned with a book, a Rubix Cube, her cell phone, a pencil and a sea shell and set them out in a line on her bed. Alvie watched the items carefully before impulse took over and he arranged them in height order.

"Are you sure you're not OCD?" He nodded. Crystal shrugged it off. "Right, make something move."

"Crystal, I don't know if I can."

"Well, try and then we'll see." Alvie remained uncertain. "Oh, please! I'll get you cookies…" She pulled a puppy-dog eye look, smiling sweetly. Alvie remained oblivious and her smile soon faltered into a sulk. "That works on everyone except you and fat-ass downstairs." Alvie didn't respond, watching the pencil- the lightest of items.

Crystal watched Alvie as concentration dominated his eyes and expression. Shreds of pure white started to appear in his eyes and the pencil shivered. Crystal smiled. She had such great ideas.

Well, sometimes- "Alvie!" She cried in warning. Alvie's concentration broke and he looked at her in confusion. Crystal jumped up and grabbed a handful of tissues from the box on her bedside table. It was then that Alvie noticed he had a nosebleed. "Are you OK?" Crystal asked. Alvie nodded, holding the tissues to the bleeding. She studied his eyes, relieved to see the white flecks fading back into stormy grey.

"It sort of worked." Alvie told her, his voice muffled. "We can try again later, I don't mind."

"Not if your head explodes." Crystal retorted, miffed that her ideas had caused this. "I don't want any creepy, godly whack screwing with you."

"I'm fine." Alvie assured. Crystal studied him sceptically.

"You're voice sounds funny." She eventually said, a smile lighting the corners of her lips. Alvie returned it.

* * *

Alvie and Crystal were playing Monopoly- Alvie was very good, even with his struggle with Math- and bankrupted her in five rounds. Joy joined in then while a surly William watched them, annoyed, from the sofa. He flicked his newspaper and grumpily returned to the politics.

Crystal was out in four rounds this time, thanks to Alvie, so she sat back and watched her mother and Alvie fight. Joy kept trying to bribe him with cookies to let her win, but Alvie remained unmindful to her words.

"You're cheating!" Joy protested, throwing the dice and gaining a six. She complained when she saw that she landed on Alvie's spot again.

"He was as well." Crystal had noticed the white flecks in Alvie's eyes and realised he was using her previous idea to bewitch the dice into landing on numbers that helped him and bankrupted his opponents. Joy noticed too and she held onto the last of her money, point blank refusing to give it to Alvie.

"We're going to play properly with _no cheating_." She emphasised. Alvie gave a small smile and set the game back up, handing out the starter money. The white in his eyes slowly materialised back into the usual grey, assuring his two opponents that he wasn't cheating this time.

He still managed to kick Joy out of the game in seven rounds and Crystal four rounds later.

"I want to play another game." Joy huffed sulkily. Crystal flipped the board, glaring at Alvie stubbornly.

"You still cheated."

"I didn't."

"Well, we lost, so yes, yes you did."

They moved onto playing Snakes and Ladders, but Alvie still won at that. Crystal managed to beat him in Ludo, but he won in Cluedo without even trying.

"OK, OK, we're going to play a game which you won't be able to cheat in."

"What's that then?"

"Um…" Crystal glanced at her mother, who shrugged. "OK, how many fingers am I holding up?" Crystal asked, hiding her hands behind her back. Alvie studied her for a few seconds.

"Six." Crystal grumbled, changing the number. Alvie kept guessing them right until Joy took over, thinking of numbers instead.

"OK, this time not a number. I'm thinking of something, what is it?" Joy demanded, hoping Alvie didn't guess this time.

He did.

"You're thinking of that patchwork elephant."

"What am I thinking of?" William's deep voice sounded from the sofa, cold and judgemental. Crystal and Joy shared wary glances before looking at Alvie. He didn't seem to register the dislike in William's tone, studying his friend's stepfather for a short while.

"You're thinking of work." Alvie started. He fell silent again, looking uncomfortable.

"What?" Crystal asked him. He mumbled something. "What?" Crystal repeated, confused. Alvie shook his head.

"He can't tell." William gave a dry laugh.

"You think I'm lying about this, but I can't say it 'cos it's wrong and will only bring more trouble." Alvie told him flatly.

"Only bring more trouble? Alvie, what- what are you on about?" Alvie cracked his knuckles nervously, glancing at Joy. Crystal's suspicions shot up. "Tell me." She demanded, grabbing Alvie by the shoulders. A wild, fleeting look of panic and confusion flitted in his eyes, that were more white than grey.

He just shook his head and wandered off to the kitchen. They heard the tap running a few seconds later and the chink of a glass in the cupboard.

Crystal looked at her mother, who was staring after Alvie worriedly. Joy's eyes met Crystal's for a split second, before flicking back in Alvie's direction. Crystal got the silent message and went after her friend.

Joy looked at her husband.

"What was it?" She asked.

"It's none of your business." William snapped, returning to his paper.

* * *

Alvie had calmed down an hour later, but he still wouldn't tell Crystal and Joy what he had gleaned from William.

Instead, he found a cat toy of Pebbles' and spent twenty minutes happily teasing the cat.

Crystal watched him play, trying to work out what Alvie knew about William. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice him dropping the toy and tensing for a few crucial seconds. She did catch him before he hit his head on the floor, but his eyes were scarlet and blood was pouring down his cheeks. He fought against her until she assured him that it was her.

"It's OK, Alvie." She promised, resting his head in her lap and calling for her mother. "Mom'll bring water for you."

"Crystal…" He wheezed.

"I'm here." She shouted for her mom again. "Just stay calm, everything's OK."

"Crystal… your dad…" That got Crystal's attention. "He'll… come back… in… next… few weeks…" This shocked her so much; she didn't notice Joy enter with a bowl of water and two clean cloths. Joy cleaned Alvie's blood-stained cheeks with the first cloth before placing the second, neatly folded cloth over his eyes.

"Has he said anything?" Joy asked. Crystal didn't respond. "Crystal?" Joy squeezed her shoulder, pulling Crystal to her senses. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

Alvie shook his head, keeping her quiet.

"Um… it-it doesn't matter." Crystal lied.

"Crystal-"

"Mom, it doesn't matter." Crystal repeated firmly. Joy just nodded.


	26. Crystal knows

**To guest reviewer I dunno, PATIENCE! **

**To everyone, most of this chapter will be drabbley, so beware.**

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Alvie did his best to uncover information about Crystal's dad from Joy- this gained him the nickname of 'brain ninja' from his friend.

"Brain ninja? Really?"

"Yes." Crystal replied defiantly. "Problem?" Alvie just shook his head. "Have you found anything yet?"

"He has brown eyes."

"Well, that narrows it down." She sighed sarcastically.

"I'm trying."

"I know, sorry." Crystal smiled apologetically. "Hey, somebody said that the teachers are planning a surprise all-school party." Alvie didn't seem to get her silent message. She sighed. "Can you find out if that's true?"

"I'll try."

"Thanks." She grinned.

They walked to homeroom, Crystal trying to get him to practise prying information from people without them realising. Over the past few weeks, he had improved with his control over his psychic powers, but still no lottery numbers, unfortunately.

They took their usual seats at the back. Alvie asked her to help him with his Math work.

"Can you just magic up the answers or something? Here, look."

"Morning!" Their homeroom teacher called, strolling in.

"Morning." The class rumbled.

"So, anyone doing anything exciting over the weekend? I'm half-tempted to gate-crash anything."

"Why sir?" Someone asked.

"I have to spend the whole weekend with my darling mother-in-law." Laughter filled the room and their teacher smiled.

Surprising everyone, Alvie put his hand up and he was smiling.

"I'm getting my cast off!" The teacher laughed.

"At long last!" He grinned. Alvie returned it. "You can get that itch you've had for six weeks now."

"Yes, all-school party."

"When?"

"Week before we break up for the holidays."

"You're coming with me." Crystal told him. Alvie stared at her as if she was crazy. "You don't have a choice, Alvie- you're coming to that party with me." **(I actually have an idea for this part- PATEINCE!) **She paused. "Considering you don't break your leg again."

"I'll try not to."

"Good boy."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you… are you going to come with me on Saturday?"

"For what? Your cast?" He nodded. "Do you want me to?"

"Only if you want to." He mumbled. Crystal smiled.

"Course I will." He looked relieved. "You're a right idiot sometimes, Alvie. I was going to take along anyway because-"

"I don't have a choice?" He guessed.

"You're learning." She smiled proudly. "I've taught you well. Hey, where are you going?" Alvie looked over his shoulder at her. "Oh, right, the library. Duh."

* * *

Saturday morning came and Percy, Annabeth, Alvie and Crystal were waiting in the waiting room for Alvie's name to be called.

"Alvie, stop fidgeting. Percy, you too!" Percy stilled and looked at Annabeth. "What?" Percy just shook his head, picking up a nearby comic and flicking through it. "Child…" Annabeth muttered.

"Alvie Jackson."

"Meep." Crystal laughed, getting to her feet and pulling Alvie up as well. Annabeth set him on his crutches before pulling Percy from his comic.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain."

Alvie had to sit on the bed, propping his leg up.

"Don't worry, son." The doctor assured. "You'll be fine."

Fifteen minutes later, Alvie was stumbling about without his crutches and cast with a big grin on his face. He had appeased the itch, much to Percy's amusement, and was now finding his feet again.

"Alvie, you're normally the sensible one." Annabeth smiled, watching Alvie's rambling movements. The doctor was still there, assessing Alvie walking around. "Don't break your leg again." She warned.

"Yes Mom." Percy was holding Alvie's crutches.

"Can we get rid of these now?" He asked, looking at Annabeth innocently. Annabeth smiled and nodded. Percy dumped the by the trash can. "Right, this calls for a McDonalds celebration."

* * *

"Chip attack!"

"Nom."

"Hey, no cast!"

"Oh, no, not you."

"I'm on my lunch break, Dad." Tobias looked offended. He was still in his coffee shop uniform. "Hi, Mom."

"Hello, trouble. Go and get your lunch." Tobias nodded and went and joined the queue.

"Can we go?" Crystal asked.

"He's in a hyperactive mood." Alvie added.

"Aw, you finish each other's sentences!"

"Vicky!"

"Oh no…" Percy put his face in his hands. "Yeah, let's go."

Vicky and Sophia appeared, both in matching uniforms to Tobias's. "Wait, you got a job?"

"Well, duh." Vicky said, as if it were obvious.

"Tobias!" Sophia went over to Tobias. Vicky took a seat next to Alvie, who looked nervous suddenly, shifting towards Crystal.

"Well, me and Soph saw these two sitting on a bench holding hands." Crystal and Alvie blushed violently while Annabeth and Percy looked at them like 'why didn't we know that?'

"I don't like you." Crystal told her. Vicky shrugged it off as Sophia returned.

"Told them." She smiled sweetly.

"Oh, Vicky, I said no!" Sophia sat next to Percy. "You're trouble, you are."

"Yes, I know. Is Tobias getting our lunch?" Sophia nodded. "Good. I hate queues."

"So, Alvie and Crystal…holding hands?" Annabeth gave a knowing smile, watching the two blushing friends. Percy was smirking while Vicky looked triumphant.

* * *

"That was five minutes!" Crystal beamed at him.

"Ugh…" Alvie stumbled to the box of tissues and grabbed a handful, soaking up the blood pouring from his nose. Crystal motioned for him to sit down next to her, looking at the books that had fallen to the floor. Alvie had worked on his telekinetic powers at her insistent and five minutes was his new record.

"Are you OK?" He nodded. "Do you want ambrosia or nectar or something?"

"No, it'll stop. Thanks." Crystal laughed softly.

"You're voice still sounds funny."

"It's hilarious." Alvie commented.

"Crystal! Alvie! Lunch!" Joy shouted up the stairs.

"Oops…" Crystal glanced at Alvie as he looked at the blood soaked tissues in his hand. She offered godly food again to heal it, but he shook his head, getting some more tissues. "You just like sympathy from Mom, don't you?" He looked at her, frowning slightly in confusion. "Alvie want a cookie?" She cooed teasingly.

They went down to lunch anyway. Joy instantly started fussing over Alvie like a mother hen. Alvie had to be careful what he said as William was sat at the table with his goddamn newspaper, doing the crossword, so he simply waved his hands about and pointed at a few things. Joy seemed to understand and ushered the pair towards the table.

"What happened to you?" William grunted, not looking up from his paper as he shoved a ham sandwich in his gob.

"Nosebleed." Alvie replied monotonously. William just grunted again and turned the page. Crystal glanced at Alvie as he moved the vase of flowers slightly.

"You've got to be OCD." He shook his head. "What then? Neat freak?"

"Have you seen my room?"

"Good point."

"You've been in his room?" William demanded, looking up at his paper to fix them with a hard glare.

"Well, yeah. Sleepovers." Crystal said, implying the obvious and laying it on pretty thick. William frowned. "Honestly, for someone who prides himself on his 'observant' quality, you're pretty thick, aren't you?"

"Less of the lip, girl!" He exclaimed angrily. Crystal made to reply when Joy returned with their lunches. William and Crystal settled with murderous glowers at each other. Alvie was distracted by his nosebleed, looking around for more tissues.

* * *

"He's such a jerk!" Crystal ranted, slamming her bedroom door.

"I can hear you!"

"I know!" She stomped to her bed and sat down heavily, folding her arms and hunching her shoulders, glowering at the bedside table. Alvie hovered by the door nervously for a few seconds, listening for William's heavy footsteps up the stairs.

Satisfied William wasn't on his way, Alvie moved over to calm Crystal down, sitting on the bed next to her.

It took a while, but she eventually sighed, the tension leaving her shoulders. "Thanks Alvie." He gave a small smile. "I don't understand why he's such a pig though." Alvie just shrugged. "Well, obviously, I'm trouble, but he could at least be nicer to Mom. She's gotta put up with both of us, for crying out loud!" A scratching on the door and a muffled 'meow' sounded from outside, pausing Crystal in her rant. She got up and opened the door, letting her beloved black cat in. "Hey Pebbles." The cat trotted over to his owner's bed and jumped up, cuddling up to Alvie and purring contentedly. "Oh, I see how it is." Pebbles meowed again and curled up in Alvie's arms.

Alvie glanced at Crystal, noticing she was shaking her head at her cat. He got up and carried the feline over to her. She smiled gratefully at him. "Stupid cat." Crystal muttered, scratching her pet behind the ears. Pebbles jumped up and curled around Crystal's neck, settling across her shoulders. "And he's moulting. Lovely." Alvie looked down at himself, seeing black fur all over him. He brushed it off, getting it all over his hands. Crystal pulled a face. "Even better. Go and wash your hands." She laughed.

While he was gone, Crystal studied her bracelet. She still hadn't paid him back for it and- was it glowing?

She moved her hand closer to her face, but there was no glow.

Yeah, she was going crazy.

* * *

Alvie was washing the cat fur from his hands and getting it off his sweatshirt when the bathroom door closed. The lock clicked.

He glanced up a second too late, a hand closing around his upper arm. Somebody forced him round and he came face-to-face with William.

"Hello, boy." Alvie swallowed nervously. "No cast. That's a shame. You should have kept it." William started to drag him towards the door. Alvie fought as best he could, but he was three times smaller than William.

Looking around, he saw he had left the tap running.

"Poseidon…" He muttered.

"What?" Alvie ignored William as the tap started to rattle. "What are you doing, freak?"

"William, open the door!" Joy sounded panicked and she was hitting the door in frustration. The tap was shaking chronically by this point.

That's when all Poseidon broke loose.

Taps- not just the sink, but the bath as well- exploded, sending geysers of water straight up. The toilet exploded as did the shower.

Water cascaded down around them, pooling on the floor and drenching them. Alvie shook water from his eyes as a jet of water slammed into William and shoved him back, releasing Alvie.

Alvie stumbled towards the door as the water splashed around his ankles. He struggled with the lock for a few seconds before pulling it open. Joy and Crystal looked mildly surprised as water washed over their feet. Joy looked ready to faint when she saw William being held down by straps of water. Crystal just smiled.

"Did you-?" Joy started. Alvie shook his head. As far as he knew, he couldn't control water.

"Poseidon." He told her. "Dad's dad." As if on cue, a glowing green trident appeared above William. Alvie frowned. _Did you just claim him?_

_No, don't be silly. He's a stupid mortal with ideas above his station._

_What are you doing then?_

_Watch and see._

The holographic trident dissolved into glowing green fragments and mixed with the water. It instantly started churning furiously. Water retracted from outside the bathroom, the carpet drying. It all tumbled towards William, smothering him in a thick, watery blanket.

_Are you going to kill him?_

_Unfortunately, no. I'm only allowed to scare him. _

_Thank you._

_Burn something for me later. Preferably not sea food though._

_Will do_.

The water washed away from William. He spluttered and choked, bringing up water. He was shivering and soaked to the skin, his hair plastered over his forehead. All the water returned to where it had come from and everything fixed itself. Everything was dry, excluding Alvie and William, and it was almost as if nothing had happened.

Crystal disappeared for a few seconds and came back with a soft, dry towel. She unfolded it in a flourish and whisked it around Alvie's shoulders.

"Trust you to cause trouble." She smiled, smoothing the towel over his shoulders. "Come on; let's get you warmed up a bit." Crystal took his hand, glancing at her mother. "Mom?"

"I've got to help William." Joy mumbled. She didn't look like she wanted to, but this was William.

Sighing, Crystal led Alvie away, waving him into her room.

"What happened?"

"I was washing my hands and then he just came in, locking the door."

"Did he say anything? Did he hurt you?"

"Um…"

"Alvie…" She warned. "I want to know." Alvie stared at her. There was something in her voice, something powerful. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"He… he grabbed my arm… and, um… he, uh, said it was shame that I, er, hadn't kept my cast. Then all the water started and… and he asked me what I was doing."

"That wasn't you?" Alvie shook his head.

"Poseidon helped me. I can't… I can't control water…" Other than looks and interest in books, Alvie didn't really take after his parents.

"What's the matter?" Crystal's tone had softened and she moved forward to comfort him. Something had made him look utterly miserable all of a sudden.

"Nothing."

"Yeah there is." She sat next to him. "You can talk to me, Alvie."

"I just… the whole demigod thing…" He sighed unhappily. "I feel like I'm letting Mom and Dad down."

"Why?"

"Mom and Dad are, like, the best demigods ever. They saved Olympus _twice_, survived Tartarus-"

"Tartarus?"

"Deepest pit of hell." Crystal stared at him. Alvie just nodded. "It's a long story, but they're so famous in our world."

"So why do you feel like you're letting them down?" Alvie sighed again.

"I can't fight like Dad; I'm not smart like Mom. They do all this cool stuff, so brave and so… so heroic. And then there's me."

"What's wrong with you?" Alvie hesitated. "Alvie, if you're hiding something from me, I will find out."

"I, um… I'm…" He faltered, chewing his lip. Would she still want to be his friend if he told her the truth?

"Alvie, come on. I won't tell anyone. Or laugh, if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm autistic."

* * *

**And cliffy! **

**I'll get to the good bit soon- SOON. Have patience, my faithful readers! **


	27. Daddy!

"I'm autistic." Crystal stared at him for a few seconds. Alvie couldn't hold her gaze for long, looking down at his hands.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Alvie hesitated.

"I thought… I thought you… you wouldn't… want to be my friend anymore…" He mumbled, his voice increasingly quieter as he spoke.

"Idiot." Crystal bopped him on the head. "I'm not shallow!" Alvie looked nervous. "Alvie, I don't care. I'd rather hang out with you than any of those jerks at school." She sighed, shaking her head at him. "And, if I'm honest with you, I don't know much about autism." She made a mental note to Google it later. "Want a hot chocolate?" Alvie nodded meekly, still looking nervous. Crystal stood and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. She adjusted the towel around his shoulders, but noticed he was dry, as if he had never been in the bathroom explosion. Crystal just put it down to something godly. She was going to put anything weird under 'godly'. "Come on." She still kept hold of his hand and led him downstairs, giving him no choice but to follow.

Crystal was mixing the hot chocolates and humming to herself. Her mind was whirring and processing Alvie's latest surprise. She hadn't lied to him- she would rather be friends with him than any of the Barbies or pig-headed jocks at school. She knew nothing of autism and its affects, except that it had something to do with the mind- well, she thought it did. She wasn't sure. Alvie was her friend and nothing would change that. She didn't want to up and leave the one guy that offered her calm and sanity as well as being the guy that had saved her life at the risk of his own.

Her mind wandered to Alvie's godly heritage. His mom's mom was Athena. She paused in what she was doing, thinking it either ironic or weird how the grandson of Athena was autistic.

She smiled at him as she turned and handed him his hot chocolate. His eyes glimmered with doubts as he took the hot drink in a trembling hand.

Sighing, she took his free hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Alvie, don't panic. You could have a second head for all I care- you're still my friend."

"A second head?"

"Yeah. Why not?" Alvie tentatively sipped his drink. Crystal sat on the stool next to him, turning to sit at the breakfast bar in the centre of the kitchen. Alvie turned as well, setting his drink down.

"You're… not… you're not freaking out." He said, looking at her questioningly.

"Why would I? I am a bit annoyed that you didn't tell me earlier though." Alvie looked down at his mug, chewing his lip. "Obviously it's a big thing for you, but if it helps, we're not all perfect. Or sane." Alvie didn't respond to that. Crystal pursed her lips stubbornly. "If you're upset, think about a T-rex trying to make a bed." It took a few seconds for that to sink in before he smiled. The more he thought about it, the funnier it seemed. "There we go." Crystal sipped at her drink. "Point to Crystal."

Joy wandered in, looking exhausted. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, sweetheart. Are you OK, Alvie?" He nodded, still smiling. "Crystal, what did you tell him?"

"I said if he's upset, he should think about a T-rex trying to make a bed." Joy burst out laughing and the weariness about her eased. "So, did Piggy enjoy his yearly bath?"

"He's gone out."

"Yay!" Crystal beamed. "Right, get his stuff and bag it all up."

"Crystal…"

"And then put it in the charity shop and make him buy it all back." **(*)**

"You… you are an evil little mastermind." Joy mumbled something after that, something neither of them caught. **(**)**

Alvie glanced at Crystal, his smile gone. He looked worried again. Joy set about making herself a coffee. Crystal leaned towards him.

"Do you want to tell Mom?" She asked quietly, for him alone to hear. He nodded after a few seconds of hesitation. "Mom!" Crystal sat up straight. Joy turned briskly.

"What?" She asked, thinking something was wrong. Crystal smiled.

"Alvie wants to tell you something." They both looked at Alvie expectantly.

It took half a minute or so to pluck up the courage to tell Joy, but he did it.

"I'm autistic." Joy did exactly what Crystal did, staring at him for a few seconds as the news sank in.

"Oh, sweetheart…" Joy moved forward and hugged Alvie tightly for a minute. Then she pulled back, holding his face in her hands. "You're still adorable." She smiled. Alvie's cheeks tinged pink and Joy laughed softly. "Look, for future reference, if you ever need to tell me or Crystal anything, just go for it, OK?" He nodded.

"Thank you."

* * *

"Joy?"

"Alvie?"

"Uh, my dad's cousin is picking me up at four. Is that OK?"

"Of course it is, sweetie." Joy smiled. Alvie returned it timidly. "Where's Crystal?" Alvie glanced over his shoulder.

"Um…"

"Crystal!"

"I didn't do it!"

"Where are you?"

"Oh! Hold on!" Crystal ran down the stairs, jumping the last three. She threw out her arms. "Ta da!"

"Alvie's dad's cousin is picking him up at four." Crystal glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Do we have enough time to burn cookies?"

"If you hurry."

"Awesome. Come on, Alvie." She held her hand out to him and he fell in step alongside her. She took his hand and they disappeared down the hall towards the kitchen.

Joy was smiling after them and didn't notice her husband sneak up on her.

"I don't approve of that." He stated, his deep voice making her jump.

"Why not?" Joy protested. "I think they're really sweet together." William glowered after the pair, Crystal's laughter bouncing down the corridor. "Besides, he makes her happy."

"There's something wrong with him." William knew nothing of Alvie's godly heritage or autism, but the bathroom incident had freaked him out.

"There's nothing wrong with him! You say that every time he comes over! Just leave him alone and go away!" She made to go after the two friends, but William grabbed her arm.

"Don't," He growled, "talk to me like that again. Do you understand?" Joy didn't reply and he tightened his grip, giving her a threatening shake. "Do you understand me, woman?" She nodded meekly and he shoved her away.

* * *

The cookies were fresh out of the oven- and blue- when the doorbell rang.

"I've got it!" Joy beamed, bouncing away.

"But I want to get it!" Crystal challenged happily, running after her mother.

"Haha, never!" Joy opened the door, looking back at her daughter and smiling triumphantly. A shocked gasp had her face her visitor and her smile faltered. "Nico?"

"Joy?"

"Mom, you know him?" Crystal studied the newcomer's black cloths strangely. Her mother didn't know anybody that dressed like that. She didn't want to. Joy didn't answer, surprising Crystal by stumbling forward and wrapping her arms around the visitor's neck. After a few seconds of hesitation, Nico hugged her back.

"Oh gods…" Nico had a small smile on his lips. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Nico, I'm so sorry." Joy's voice shook. Nico held her at arm's length. Joy was crying. Joy never cried.

"Hey, it's OK." Nico assured, wiping Joy's tears away with his thumbs.

"Joy, who's that?" Joy tensed as William appeared. Nico looked confused.

"Um, this is Nico. He's an old… friend." The way she said 'friend' suggested more, but William didn't pick up on that.

"Hi, Nico."

"Hey, Alvie." Alvie remained oblivious to the tension in the air, but he saw tears glistening in Joy's eyes.

"Are you OK?" He asked.

"I'm fine."

"You have explaining to do." William snarled. Joy paled and Nico angered, stepping forward and placing himself between William and Joy. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Nico returned. Alvie tensed, recognising his uncle's dark glower and tense shoulders. William must have sensed something different about Nico as well. The son of Hades' aura could establish fear so powerful it could drive some insane.

"I'm Joy's husband." William retorted, his tone monotonous.

"I've got a feeling she doesn't like you."

"He's your dad's cousin?" Crystal asked Alvie quietly.

"On the godly side." Alvie replied in whisper. Crystal thought about the godly side of Alvie's family. Percy's dad was Poseidon. Poseidon's brothers were Zeus and Hades.

Looking Nico over, he had to be a son of Hades. He just seemed so dark and terrifying. She relayed her suspicions to Alvie, who nodded.

"They have the same hair." Alvie nodded again, not catching her attempt at lighting the mood. Other than the similarities in hair colour, she would never have placed Nico and Percy as cousins.

"Nico, just leave it." Joy pleaded.

"How about you just leave?" William spat. Nico gritted his teeth. Crystal was a bit shocked when Alvie stepped in front of her. Before she could question it, she realised why. Nico was emitting a visible aura now, one that reminded her of shadows- icy and cold, gloomy with the potential of danger. William didn't seem so threatening compared to this guy.

"How about you just shut up?" Nico growled.

"Why do you even care? You don't know Joy."

"I bet I know Joy a down sight better than you ever will. Now, _leave_. _Pack your bags and leave._" Chills ran down Crystal's spine at the power in Nico's voice. Panic and fear flared in William's eyes and he stumbled away.

"What was that?" She hissed in Alvie's ear. Alvie didn't answer immediately.

"I think it's something to do with being a Hades kid. He can scare people into doing what he wants using words."

"That's creepy and awesome." Alvie nodded in agreement.

Nico turned back to Joy, his expression softening. Joy managed a weak smile, trembling from head to foot. Nico put his arms around Joy and simply held her until she calmed down. It was as if Crystal and Alvie weren't there.

"Where'd you go?" Nico eventually asked, his voice lacking the frightening power. He sounded concerned, yet kind and friendly. Tears welled up in Joy's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Nico." She sobbed. Nico held onto her tighter, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her. "I lied. I lied to you. I lied to Crystal. I'm so sorry." Tears fell freely, but she stubbornly wiped them away, pulling herself from Nico's arms and moving towards Crystal. Alvie stepped out of the way so the mother could embrace her daughter.

Crystal had never seen her mother upset like this before and she hated it. "You know I told you that your real dad left shortly after you were born?" Crystal nodded slowly, looking up to meet Joy's gaze. "He never knew about you. I got scared when I found out I was pregnant and left." Joy looked at Nico before looking down at her daughter again. "Nico… Nico's your dad."

* * *

**I told you none of you would expect it! :D No-one guessed!**

**(*) Right, my mum, bless her, actually did something like this- her boyfriend of the time moved in while she was out, so while he was out, she bagged everything up and put it in the charity shop and he had to buy everything back! I love my mum! **

**(**) Joy mumbled 'Just like your father' in reference to calling to Crystal an 'evil little mastermind'. **

**So, what do we think? **


	28. Happy

**OK, this morning while checking the reviews on Alvie's story, I had so many people screaming at me, but that's OK 'cos none of you were threatening my murder. ****I've got two couple names for Alvie and Crystal- Crystie, by vivi-rose and Cryvie by - thank you, guys! **

**To I dunno, if I'm honest with you, I don't use hash tags- don't know how- but #TeamAlvie sounds alright. **

**And as I usually do with people that annoy me, Perrito put this:**

_Okay. I didn't even read this. I just couldn't hold myself from saying this. Alvie is the shittiest, nerdiest fucking name I've heard yet for Percy and Annabeth's child. Tobias? Shitty, childish. Alvie? Fat nerd in the front of the class farting all over the place in chemistry and making stinkbombs._

**And I put this:**

_I don't care if you don't like the names. I picked them; I had help from the nice readers to pick some of them. If you don't like, then don't read and don't review. I don't like wasting my time on idiots._

**And I have been mentally working on Nico's story. Someone asked about Piper- **_**Love Triangle**_**- and yes, I know I said in that about Nico having a crush on Piper, but that story is dead and that Piper and Nico got together in **_**Apocalyptic love,**_** but I've got ideas for something different now. **

**Thank you to everybody who left NICE (and slightly eccentric) reviews and here's the update quite a few of you asked for!**

* * *

Alvie wasn't sure who was more stunned- Crystal or Nico.

Nico shook his head after a minute or so and pulled himself together.

"Is… is that why you left?" Joy nodded. Bizarrely, Nico looked relieved. "I thought it was someone else."

"Oh, Nico, never." Joy returned to him, holding his face in her hands.

"Then what about that guy? Your _husband_." Nico spat the word 'husband' as if it were the vilest tasting thing he had ever had.

"I had no choice." Joy replied tearfully. "I need somewhere to go, I needed a job, the money…"

"Joy, I would've helped. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I was scared, Nico. We were seventeen, eighteen and I was pregnant. You were the best thing that ever happened to me and I didn't want to lose you, but I didn't want to give my baby up."

"Oh, Joy, you're an idiot." Nico pulled Joy into a hug and let her cry into his chest. He watched Crystal over Joy's shoulder curiously.

Crystal was still stunned and she had the need to sit down. If it wasn't for Alvie holding her elbow supportively, she would have sunk to her knees in shock.

Joy calmed down considerably a few minutes later, plastered on a smile and went to make everyone coffee.

"Alvie, come and help me." Crystal knew what her mother was doing- she wanted her to get to know her father.

Nico looked awkward and she felt the same.

"Hi." He eventually said. "Um…" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Favourite colour?"

"Green." He winced at that. "Problem?" She frowned.

"My sister's favourite colour was green."

"Was?" Nico looked pained.

"She died a few years ago."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." Nico managed a small, sad, yet grateful smile. "Um… how'd you meet Mom?"

"We met in a coffee shop. She accidently spilt coffee on me." Crystal couldn't help but smile.

"This lady spilt coffee on me. I like her." She said in a gruff imitation of Nico. He smiled as well, amused. "How old were you?"

"I was fifteen; she was fourteen when we first met." Nico studied her eyes curiously. "What about you and Alvie?" Crystal felt her cheeks warm and Nico smirked.

"He's just a friend."

"You like him."

"He's a _friend. _Don't do the protective daddy thing."

"I'm not."

"Seems like it."

"Put it as keeping an eye on Alvie."

"Why?"

"Percy's been like a brother to me for years. It's the least I can do to keep an eye on his kids when I can. Especially Alvie. Percy worries about him the most."

"Why?" Nico frowned.

"That's for Alvie to tell you if he hasn't already."

"I love straight answers." Nico's frown eased into a smile. Crystal thought about it for a few seconds, before remembering the previous shocker before her dad's sudden arrival. "Alvie's autistic."

"He told you?"

"Yesterday, yeah." Nico just nodded. Crystal looked him up and down. "No offense or anything, but I can't imagine Mom going out with someone like you." Nico raised his eyebrows at that slightly. "I mean, she's so… bubbly and happy and… weird, but you're, um…"

"Dark, depressing and weirder?" He suggested.

"Something like that." Nico smiled.

"Percy said exactly the same when he found out. Speaking of Percy…" Nico fumbled in his pocket, retrieving his cell phone.

"Did Leo give you that?" She asked. She knew Leo had given his closest demigod friends and family anti-monster cell phones. Alvie didn't have one because he was worried he would break it. Tobias didn't have one because he _would_ break it.

"Yeah." Nico tapped in a number and waited as it rang. "Percy, hi. Yeah, I'm fine. Listen- you remember Joy, right?" Nico fell silent as Percy babbled in his ear. "Yes, OK, I get it. Shut up." Nico sighed. "Well, I found out why she left." Nico smiled at Crystal. "You know Crystal?" Percy started babbling again, his voice a faint buzz on the phone. Nico held the phone away from his ear, waiting for his cousin to calm down. "Yeah, I'm a daddy." Nico said it carefully, as if he expected and feared Percy's reaction. He held the phone a short distance from him again.

When Percy had calmed down a bit, Nico held the phone to his ear again, braving his cousin. "No, the godly side doesn't count. Percy- Percy…" Nico rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "Percy, breathe!"

Joy and Alvie returned with cups of coffee.

"Who's he talking to?" Joy asked.

"Percy." Crystal smiled. "It's quite entertaining, actually. Percy's not letting him get a word in edgeways." Joy laughed softly, moving forward to give Nico his coffee. She took the phone from him and shut Percy up instantly, much to Nico's annoyance.

"Hello, Percy. Yes, I know, I'm sorry. I should have told you, but I didn't know if you were still in touch with Nico or- don't interrupt a lady when she's apologizing."

"You left him!"

"I didn't want to!"

"Why didn't I even recognise you?" Percy grumbled a curse. Joy cleared her throat pointedly. "Oh, right, carry on."

* * *

Over the next few weeks, William kept trying to come back, but Nico was generally around and sending William away with a few powerful words. Also, in that time, Joy and Nico started secretly rekindling their relationship. Crystal didn't mind- her mom was happy and she was getting to know her real dad, who kept William away.

"Crystal?"

"Are you going out for dinner again?"

"You don't mind, do you?"

"No, Mom. Honest, it's fine. Go and have fun and tell me about it when you get back."

"I've left you on your own for ages this week though…"

"Mom…" Crystal warned lightly. "Go. Have. Fun. That's an order!" Joy looked mildly surprised before laughing.

"OK, OK. I won't be long."

"Take your time."

"There are ready meals in the fridge."

"Mom, you've got a date."

"Ring me if there are any problems."

"You're going to be late."

"Don't answer the door to anyone."

"Mom, you're supposed to be leaving!"

"And don't stay up later than ten."

"Mom! Go! Date! Now!"

"Bossy!" Joy shot back, but she was smiling. Crystal got up and padded over to her mother, hugging her tightly. "Alright, alright, I'm going." Joy kissed her daughter's forehead and left, waving as the door closed behind her.

Crystal sighed. Honestly, that mother of hers…

She bounced off though, relishing in having the house to herself. She ran around and made sure all the windows were shut and locked before settling on the sofa, wrapped in her favourite fleecy blanket with a tiger on and settling down to watch her cartoons.

She got bored after an hour and got up, the blanket around her shoulders like a cloak. She moved towards the phone and dialled Alvie's home number.

"Joe's pizza, how can I help?"

"PERCY!"

"No!"

"Away from the phone!" Something clattered. Crystal figured Percy had dropped the phone to escape his wife, but didn't think about it much as Annabeth had picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hiya."

"Oh, hi Crystal. You OK?"

"Mom's out on her date and I'm bored."

"Want to talk to Alvie?"

"Please."

"Hold on a sec…" Crystal could hear Annabeth calling her son, but it took a few attempts to get Alvie's attention.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Alvie."

"Hi, Crystal."

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, good thanks. You?"

"BORED."

"Figured. Where's your mom?"

"She's on her date with Nico." Crystal smiled. "How'd you think they're getting on?" Alvie was quiet. "You're still there, aren't you?" He hummed in reply. "Good- now answer my question."

"OK, hopefully."

"Do you reckon they'll get back together officially?"

"I don't know…" Crystal would want her mom to be with someone who made her happy- real dad or no, Crystal didn't care. Joy was happy with someone and that's all that mattered.

Besides, she might just divorce William…

Crystal smiled to herself. Now there was a good idea…

* * *

**Ok, that's it for now. I'm not really in the mood for writing. Most of this was from this morning or a couple of days ago or something. I hope it's OK and blah blah blah. **


	29. Shopping

**Sorry for not updating last night, I was working on a Nico one-shot. It's a nice one, don't worry. Nico actually smiles in it. There's a bit of Leo and Nico bromance in it as well- those two would make the best team up ever, I think. Maybe with Percy as well… **

**Anyway, guest reviews:**

**To ApolloArtemis79 (that's so weird typing that…) Uh, yeah, Nico got laid. And he had a girlfriend and now has said girlfriend back.**

**To Taliesan, I haven't checked my PMs yet, but I did send one to that name you left me.**

**To Guest- it was meant to unexpected and I think a few people guessed Apollo.**

**To Guest who replied on Chapter 26 (I don't think I replied to you in previous chapters), no, Crystal didn't know he was autistic until that point as Alvie was worried about her ditching and joining the bullies. **

**Also, I'm thinking about putting up a poll- I can't decide which couple name is better- Cryvie or Crystie. I noticed in the last chapter that I didn't put who Cryvie was by- stupid Art! - So that was by PjoHP. LSR - thanks bud! But for some reason, Fanfiction wiped your name out of this author's note...  
Crystie was by vivi-rose. **

**Last thing- I've been asked a few times if I'm ADHD (by some people on here) and I mentioned it to my 'friend' (long story) and she told me to go and get tested. Great morale booster… but anyway, I did an online test 'cos doctors are freaky and my mum was like 'there is no way you are ADHD'. The online test said it wasn't a diagnosis, so I **_**might not be **_**ADHD, (emphasis on **_**might not be**_**). Just another thing in my dull life I thought you should know. Oh and 'friend's latest boyfriend (another long story) is ADHD and dyslexic. There was me like *DEMIGOD!* and I've figured he's a son of Hephaestus as he's really good at fixing bikes, apparently. **

**Anyway, on with the fic! I have had chocolate!**

* * *

Crystal laughed. "That suits you." She grinned, adjusting the pink hat with a feather in the purple ribbon around on Alvie's head. "Ooh, I like this one!" She picked up a casual hat, like one that singer Neyo wore or something. She took the pink hat from Alvie and replaced it with this one, putting it at a tilt that cast just enough shadow over his eyes.

"Why am I letting you put random hats on me?"

"You don't have a choice and you have to look snazzy for the party."

"Snazzy?"

"Are you dissing my vocab?" Alvie blinked at her. He looked adorably perplexed and that hat just added to the effect. Crystal smiled. "You are getting that hat." She told him.

"OK." She grabbed his hand and dragged him further along. Now he wasn't slowed down by crutches, she could drag him out and about for a day in the shopping mall. He had only agreed to this if she let him in the book store for a bit.

Half an hour later, Crystal had kitted Alvie out with the hat, a blue shirt with a white T-shirt underneath, black jeans and white trainers. Alvie seemed to like the outfit she had chosen for him; he just didn't like the price tags.

"Oh, don't worry. It was William's secret stash of money." He looked up at that. "He's not going to come back for it." She grinned devilishly. "And Mom said I could have it, but I snuck some in her purse, so it's OK." He still looked uncertain. "I'll buy you books and pizza." He smiled at that, a hint of agreement in his eyes.

They were standing in the queue to pay for Alvie's stuff and the small shoulder bag Crystal had found that she had to have. Alvie kept fidgeting though, looking around at everything. Crystal wasn't sure if he was having a psychic moment or if his ADHD was getting to him. "Are you OK?" She asked. He nodded. Crystal glanced around as well. "Nothing's going to get us, right?" He shook his head, holding her gaze briefly. "What then?"

"Um…" He glanced at something over his shoulder and she tried to follow his gaze, but he distracted her by dumping everything in her arms. "I've gotta get something." He told her, hurrying away before she could say anything.

"RUDE!" She shouted after him. He smiled back at her, a good and safe distance away. Crystal wanted to see what he was getting, but he vanished out of sight a few seconds later. Sighing dejectedly, she turned back to face the front, counting six people in front of her. She hated queues.

Alvie returned ten minutes later. She was two people from the front now. In his hand was a small bag. "What's in there?" He shook his head. "Uh, no, tell me. You left me _on my own_ for _ten minutes_."

"Sorry." He mumbled, but he made no move to show her what was in the bag. It was a plain plastic blue bag, so she couldn't guess with a logo or anything.

"Where'd you go?"

"Not far."

"That doesn't narrow it down, Alvie." There was one person in front of them now. She'd be damned if she didn't get him to tell her what was in that bag _right now._

But he persisted, the stubborn git.

They reached the checkout and he seemed to have become more secluded about what was in the bag. "Can I at least have a clue then?" He shook his head. Crystal studied him stubbornly, folding her arms as the lady scanned their items and neatly folded them into a bag. No wonder why it took ages to get here. "Please can I have a clue?" He shook his head again, looking amused. "Well then, you can forget that pizza."

"You'll find out later." He told her.

"But I don't want to know later, I want to know now. And stop smiling like that!" She was trying to glare at him, but his amusement was rubbing off on her and she found herself fighting her own smile.

* * *

"OK, can I know now?"

"No."

"Why? It's been _ages_!"

"It's been half an hour, Crystal."

"That's ages." She told him flatly. Alvie didn't respond, tucking into apple pie. He had insisted on buying her chocolate cake and a coffee seeing as she had bought him those clothes. "Can I look now?" He shook his head, munching on his pie. Crystal folded her arms stubbornly, slouching in her seat and pretending to sulk.

"I might give you a clue if you eat your cake." Crystal regarded him for a few seconds, before shrugging.

"Best offer you've given me so far."

But he didn't give her a clue when she had eaten her cake. Instead, he motioned to her coffee, drinking from his own. She glowered at his sudden burst of annoyingness, but started drinking her coffee.

"OK, can I look now?"

"No. We haven't been to the book store yet." Crystal groaned and put her head on the table in defeat.

"I am a bad influence." She mumbled. She looked up at him, resting her chin on the table. "You are a horrible piece of work now."

"I learnt from the best." He replied, sipping his coffee. She kicked him under the table.

"You can be so lovely and then so… so _cruel_. I didn't teach you that!" He just smiled.

It took another fifteen minutes of pleading before Alvie relented.

"It was for you anyway."

"You made me wait?" She tentatively took the bag, turning in her seat so he couldn't reach across the table and take it back.

It was another white box, but slimmer and longer than the one that presented her bracelet to her. She always wore the bracelet, one of her most treasured possessions.

It was a heart-shaped locket with green stones embedded in a smaller heart shape on. She struggled with the clasp for a few seconds before opening it. Inside, on the left '_Crystal and Alvie'_ had been engraved in cursive and on the right was a picture of them, smiling at the camera. She had captured him in a hug and forced him to smile for the picture.

"Oh… it's lovely!" She beamed at him. "Little help?" She asked, holding it up. Alvie shifted around the table as she lifted her hair. His hands were warm and gentle on the back of her neck as he secured the chain. She let her hair fall when he was finished, standing up and turning to crush him in a hug. After a few hesitant seconds, Alvie returned it. "You're the best." She smiled up at him. Alvie gave a timid smile in return, gently tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Why are you so nice?" She shook her hand, making the bracelet jingle and him smile.

* * *

Alvie walked her home, carrying their shopping stuff. She wasn't allowed to carry anything, not even the lighter bags. She kept smiling at her bracelet and feeling for her locket, marvelling in the beauty of the simple objects. She absolutely loved them and decided to never take them off.

"You never did answer my question." He looked at her quizzically. "Why are you so nice?" He just shrugged. Crystal linked her arm through his, breathing in the cool winter night's air. She took warmth from him, resting her head on his shoulder and snuggling closer. "Why don't I take some stuff?"

"We're nearly back now." He told her.

"I know, but I feel meaning for making you carry everything back."

"You didn't make me."

"Well, you know what I mean." She waved it off with her free hand, making the charms on her bracelet jingle. They both smiled.

They reached Crystal's house a few minutes later.

"That's Nico's car."

"Ooh, should I go in? I don't want to walk on anything awkward…" Crystal bit her lip. Alvie stayed silent for a few seconds.

"No, you're safe. They're just having coffee." Crystal looked relieved.

"Are you sure?" He nodded. "I love having a psychic best friend who buys me pressies."

"And I can walk you up to the door now." She laughed.

"Well, walk me up to my door, dear sir." Alvie shifted the bags in his left hand into his right with the others and took her hand. She fumbled for her key with her free hand, smiling at the familiar feeling of his hand in hers. "Mom, we're back!"

"Ooh, how'd it go?" Joy bounced out of the kitchen, followed by Nico. Alvie set the bags on the floor and Joy instantly started to rummage through them. "I like this hat." She smiled, putting Alvie's new hat on. "There's a whole outfit in here!"

"It's Alvie's outfit for the Christmas party."

"Where's yours?" Joy demanded, checking the other bags.

"I didn't get one."

"It has to match his." Joy told her firmly, holding Crystal's gaze with wide, yet serious eyes. Then she looked curious. "You two are going together, right?" Crystal nodded, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. She kept her eyes on her mother as Joy continued rummaging through the bags, so she wasn't sure if Alvie was blushing like she was. Nico smiled at them knowingly, but he didn't draw Joy's attention to it, luckily.

Once Joy had looked through all the bags, she noticed the silver chain peeking out from under Crystal's T-shirt. She instantly demanded to know what it was, her eyes gleaming excitedly like a child on Christmas. Alvie's cheeks faded pink as Joy studied the locket and saw what was inside.

She laughed happily and attacked Alvie in a tight hug. "You're adorable!" She beamed. Alvie couldn't get his head around why everyone called him adorable. To Tobias, that was an offense to his manliness.

Joy held him at arm's length, smiling broadly. "You're _adorable_." She repeated, ruffling his hair. She retrieved his hat from her head and gently dropped it on his tousled hair. She tilted it slightly before smiling proudly and casually walking back to Nico, who instantly put his arm around her.

Crystal looked at Alvie. He seemed bewildered while still slightly pink in the face.

Yes, he was adorable. But she didn't dare say that around her mother…

* * *

**OK, I might just do the Christmas party bit next. And I don't care if the times are wrong as I don't normally do weather (I don't think) but the all-school party Crystal asked Alvie to find out about was a Christmas one as it goes along with my plan. Just wait for the update! **


	30. O:)

**Sorry for not updating yesterday- I was playing Black Ops 2 Zombies with my dad. I think he prefers playing Zombies with me than my brother 'cos I'm obviously better and more sarcastic- like a running comedy commentary ****while we shoot Zombies' heads off. **

**Right- this is an outrage. We all know what a Kit Kat is, right? I don't know if you get that in America or wherever, but there was this kid that had a Kit Kat in class. To eat a Kit Kat, you break the fingers off one-by-one and eat them that way. You do not open the Kit Kat and take a big bite. THAT IS NOT HOW YOU EAT A KIT KAT! **

**Also, I found it quite entertaining that someone messaged me 'cos they had problems with Out- (we all remember that guy, right?) That made my day, so thank you to ****AthenaGirl823. **

**And I have a poll up as well- could you guys vote on that please? So far, I have two voters- thank you to whoever they were! And you'll like this chapter, trust me. It's a nice one!**

* * *

Joy adjusted Alvie's hat a final time before waving them both out of the door. Nico was leaning against his car, waiting to drive them to the party. He grinned when he saw them. Alvie was wearing the outfit Crystal had got him with William's money while she wore a navy blue dress and black pumps. The top of the dress clung to her torso and the skirt billowed out around her, ending around her knees. Her hair had been curled into ringlets by her mother and hung about her shoulders.

"You didn't put the ribbon on." Crystal told Nico. He looked offended.

"No ribbon on my car. Now in- you'll be late." Alvie moved forward and opened the door for Crystal. Nico smirked but said nothing. Crystal ignored him pointedly and sat comfortably in the back, Alvie climbing in after her.

On the drive to the school, Crystal babbled to Alvie, who spoke a few words whenever she paused briefly for breath.

"Crystal, you've got verbal diarrhoea." Nico commented, pulling into the school road.

"Verbal diarrhoea? Gee, thanks." Nico grinned at her in the rear view mirror before turning his gaze on Alvie.

"You OK, bud?" Alvie nodded. "Sure?" Alvie nodded again. Nico didn't push him, swinging into a parking spot. "Right, no fighting, no arguing, no stupidity and I'll be here at ten. I'll wait five minutes for you. After that, you can walk home."

"You're so kind." Crystal told him. A thought occurred to her. "DO I call you Nico or Dad or what?"

"What sounds great." Alvie was smiling at her.

"Not a word." She told him. Now she knew where her sarcasm and brash comments came from. "Bye What." Crystal said, getting out of the car with Alvie.

"Bye bye." Nico smiled, driving off. Crystal took Alvie's hand and smoothed her dress with the other. "Any psychic stuff and we're leaving, understood?"

"Really?"

"No, freak people out!" Crystal grinned manically. Alvie shot her a cautious look before she dragged him towards the hall. Music, shouts and laughter drifted out of the open doors and windows.

They walked into the party and were greeted by Tobias, Sophia and Vicky almost immediately. Vicky instantly spotted their joined hands and squealed happily, pointing at them and dancing triumphantly. Sophia grabbed her by the shoulders and redirected her by pointing out Tobias's friend Tommy from the swim team. Vicky was off like a shot.

* * *

As Crystal had instructed, Alvie used his psychic powers to some extent to freak people out. His favourite was when he made the last sausage roll levitate away from someone in Max's grade trying to get it. He found out that the more food he ate, the longer he could use his powers without tiring or getting a nosebleed. He just grew hungry really quickly afterwards.

Word quickly got out that there was a 'ghost'. Tobias found Alvie about two hours into the party to quiz him.

"Are you scaring people?"

"I told him to." Crystal smirked.

"Of course you did." Tobias ran his hands through his hair, glancing around the hall packed with dancing students. "Ooh, I have an idea. You know this ghost thing?" Alvie nodded and Tobias pointed out some white sheets that covered the DJ booth. "Ghosties, Alvie… wooo…" Tobias waved his hands, doing his impression of a ghost. Sophia caught up with him then and dragged him away to dance.

Crystal took Alvie's hand.

"Could you do it while we're dancing?"

"I can try. But I… I haven't… haven't really danced before." Crystal looked at him disbelievingly. Alvie rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"It's easy. Just relax, OK? And do the ghosty thing, _please_." She begged. Alvie nodded. "Put your hand on my waist."

"W-what?"

"You want to dance, don't you?"

"Um…" She glared at him pointedly. Alvie nodded sheepishly. Crystal directed his hand to her waist, but he seemed tense.

"Relax, Alvie. The ghosties will get you." She teased. She put her hand on his shoulder and held his other hand. She started to lead him in the dancing, but he was clumsy. Even worse when he was nervous and trying to focus on something else as well.

It didn't take long for screams of 'ghost' to ring out. Crystal glanced round, concealing her grin as she saw the white sheets shooting around like comets. Alvie pulled her to the side of the hall as there was a swarm to leave the hall. They ducked into the shadows, hiding in plain sight so Alvie could keep up his little ghost play. Crystal held onto his hand and watched as some of the sheets chased after the retreating students, one sheet dive-bombing the DJ.

"Alvie, nosebleed." The sheets tumbled to the floor, but all the students had left by now. "Come on." Crystal tugged on his hand and led him across the empty floor and out the doors on the other side. They went down the hall and around the corner and she directed him to the boys' toilets to get some tissue.

When he came out, he was grinning.

"Dad'll want to know that later."

"And Leo and Lou." He nodded in agreement. "Should we see where everyone went?" Alvie nodded again. She linked her arm with his and they strolled back the way they had come.

* * *

It took over an hour for everyone to return to the party. The sheets were prodded and poked, but they were relieved when the 'ghosts' didn't come back.

Alvie and Crystal were sat on a bench outside, under the bare branches of an oak.

"We should do that more often." Crystal smiled. Alvie nodded in agreement. "And get it on video and put it on YouTube!" He looked at her. "I know demigods and technology don't mix, but that's priceless, Alvie! And we could get you to go on a talent show or go around asking random people questions, like guess the card or something. You could be the next Sherlock Holmes!"

"You're on a roll, aren't you?"

"Yes, don't interrupt. No more nosebleeds?" He shook his head. "Good. Where was I?"

"Guess the card."

"Oh yeah!" She rambled on about all the classic psychic tricks he could do, how they could get it on video and on YouTube and so on and so forth.

The only thing that broke her rambling was- "Is that mistletoe?" Alvie glanced up and saw a bunch of mistletoe hanging from a branch above their heads. That mistletoe hadn't been there before…

Alvie felt the heat rise in his cheeks. It was hard to tell in the darkness of the night, but he figured Crystal would be blushing as well.

They stared at each other, not sure how to react. Alvie was trying to think how the mistletoe had got there, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

It was Crystal that broke the awkward silence. "Oh to heck with it."

He tensed when she kissed him.

Crystal noticed that he tensed and didn't respond. She had probably given him the biggest shock of his life and, knowing Alvie, he didn't know how to react.

She pulled back slightly, smiling nervously while her face felt like it was on fire. "Right, um, close your eyes." He just blinked at her, wide eyed and startled. She laughed nervously and repeated the order, running her hands through his hair like she did when he had a psychic attack to relax him. It partially worked and he did close his eyes, knowing better than to disobey.

He didn't tense when she kissed him again, but it took a while for him to hesitantly respond. This was new… yeah; he had _liked_ Crystal for ages now, but dammit! He was bloody nervous, aware that his hands were trembling. Crystal didn't seem so nervous, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Crystal pulled away again, resting her forehead against his. "Wasn't so bad now, was it?" Alvie tried to speak, but his mumbles were incoherent and probably not words at all. She laughed and hugged him. She had probably just turned his brain to mush.

Score to Crystal.

* * *

**See, I was nice. See how lovely I am? I'm not mean AT ALL. EVER. I'm 100% lovely! **

**Ha! That'll be the day. Don't forget to vote peeps! :D **


	31. Talks

**I had some very crazy reactions to the last chapter. Like, screaming fangirls and then so much… noise. You lot are truly a crazy bunch of people- YOU'RE SO COOL! **

**To OMG, it isn't an easy job but I love writing stories and you have no idea how grateful and happy I am to have such amazing readers, such as yourself. THANK YOU! HAVE A COOKIE! **

**TGIF- I'm so tired… school's a **_**drag**_** and I'm BORED.**

* * *

Nico arrived bang on ten, as he had told them, swinging into the parking lot without a care in the world. People pointed and looked confused.

Alvie started towards the car.

"No, wait." Crystal said, grabbing his arm. "Let's go over at the last second and see if he actually drives off."

"He will." Alvie told her. "He drove off and left Elsie to wait half an hour for Leo to pick her up." Alvie paused. "And it was snowing." Crystal laughed.

"Oh, he stands up to his dad's name."

"And you stand up to yours."

"I know right?" She took his hand. "Do we tell them?" Alvie shrugged, starting towards Nico's car. Crystal trailed alongside him. "I mean, I don't mind, but imagine Vicky and Mom." Crystal dropped his hand to wave hers about and mimicked Vicky's and her mother's excited squeals. Alvie stared at her blankly before smiling. Crystal rubbed her throat. "Oh gods, can't do that." She cleared her throat. "How do they do that squealy thing?" Alvie shrugged.

They were interrupted by Nico beeping the car horn impatiently. Alvie opened the door for her. "Hi What." She smirked, climbing into the backseat. Nico grinned at her in the rear view mirror as Alvie settled next to her, pulling the door shut. "Have you not heard of brakes?"

"Brakes are for babies." Nico declared, shifting gears and flooring the accelerator, peeling out of the car park. Crystal was grateful for her seat belt, but she couldn't help but grip Alvie's hand and the door handle.

It was a miracle they got home in one piece.

* * *

Crystal was woken up by her phone buzzing.

_Tobias knows. _

_Well, that's OK, isn't it?_ _Xxxx _

It took a short while for Alvie to reply. He hated his phone. It hated him in return.

_I didn't tell him._

_It's OK. Tobias likes being nosy. Xxxx _

Alvie ended up ringing her.

"You hate texting, don't you?"

"I can't spell." He told her seriously. Crystal sensed his confusion as to why she was laughing.

"So, how did Tobias find out?"

"He said he saw us walking towards Nico's car and looked at the bench."

"He saw the mistletoe, didn't he?" Alvie hummed. "Do you reckon he put it there?"

"Tobias…" Alvie started, but fell quiet, uncertain.

"He could have had some help." Crystal agreed. "Damn that git…"

* * *

Alvie was over for the day. He and Crystal were organising books in the library. He had insisted because the book order didn't sit well with him. All the Harry Potters had to go together, in order, as did every other series they found. It took hours and Alvie found dozens of books he wanted to read, asking Crystal to write the titles down. Despite all this, it gave them ages to talk about anything and everything.

"You know, we haven't heard anything from William. Touch wood." Crystal added, resting her hand on the table. Alvie looked at her from where he stood half a dozen rungs up on a ladder to reach the higher shelves. "Nico's real good at keeping him out. And I heard Mom and Nico talking about me and Mom moving in with Nico in case William goes nuts and wants his house back." Crystal glanced round. "He can have it. I never liked it here."

"I like the library." Alvie told her.

"We'll take the books." Crystal sighed, smiling. "As long as we've got somewhere to put them." Alvie was silent for a few seconds.

"I think there's a spare room at Dad's swimming pool. An extra office or something. We could ask and put them in there."

"See, you are clever." Alvie didn't say anything, rearranging some books on the shelf.

"What would you do if William came back?"

"Set Nico on him." Crystal replied easily, studying the pile of books in front of her. "What else is there to do?" Alvie shrugged, clambering down.

The door banged open, making Alvie jump and trip the last few steps. "Oh gods, are you OK?" Crystal jumped up. Alvie had landed in a heap on the floor. Crystal pulled him to his feet before turning to glower at the intruder.

Nico held his hands up in surrender, but his sarcastic smirk didn't help.

"Your mom on the outside and me on the inside. Not the best mix." He tilted his head to the side. "You OK, Alvie?"

"Ow." He mumbled. Nico smiled. Crystal was still glaring at him.

"Honestly, chill. He's fine." Crystal folded her arms, sulking.

"What'd you want, What?" Nico shrugged.

"Joy thinks it'll be a good idea to do a family trip out or something."

"Family trip?"

"Yeah." Nico paused, glancing over his shoulder as Joy appeared in the doorway.

"Like a daddy-daughter relationship building thing." Joy explained.

"Ooohhh…" Crystal glanced at Alvie. He had been distracted by the books again, not really paying attention to what was being said. "OK then." Nico looked relieved and grinned. Joy looked immensely proud with herself, most likely.

"It's settled then! This Saturday, we're going to do a whole day of stuff."

"A whole day?" Nico looked at her curiously. "What are we doing?"

"Well, I was thinking bowling and cinema and then lunch and then we could go shopping, because, Nico, your place is depressing and lonely." Nico shrugged. "Oh, and then we could spend Sunday redecorating your place."

"The entire place in a day?"

"Well, we can start."

"Mom, will we have time for all of that? You know what you're like when it comes to shopping." Crystal looked at Nico. "I had to spend eight hours outside clothes shops waiting for her to pick a pair of bloody trousers."

"It wasn't just trousers." Joy retorted, miffed slightly. "There were some T-shirts as well."

"Ooh, even better." Crystal grinned brightly, mocking an enthusiastic tone.

"Why do I even bother with you?"

* * *

**OK, this is mainly a filler chapter, but I do have this idea of trying to do the daddy-daughter relationship building thing as Joy called it. And I actually gave spoilers in this chapter. **


	32. Such a great day to be Alvie

**I have another poll up- this one is for Tobias's story. PLEASE VOTE! **

**Right, I've been feeling jittery all day and I can't think straight, like my thoughts are smashing off each other and flying in all directions and half the time I have no idea what I'm saying. Is that the last screws falling loose or is that normal? **

**Oh and Madam is from a one-shot that I'm working on that will hopefully be up soon… ish…**

* * *

"Cushion!"

"No!" Crystal laughed as the red cushion bounced off of Nico's shoulder.

"I did warn you." She smiled sweetly.

"Tobias, no. Paint the walls and not your brother." They heard Tobias's sarcastic laughs, Joy's mumbles of defeat and then Alvie walked out of the bathroom with blue paint streaked across his front and splatters of blue on his face.

Nico's apartment had a lot of work to be done, resulting in some of Alvie's siblings and cousins helping out. They had quickly learnt that hiring Tobias to help wasn't the best of ideas. Percy and Leo were helping while Louisa was at the Jackson residence with Charlie, Phoenix, Sage and the triplets. Max was only helping because it beat moping around all day. Ava was there as well, keeping an eye on her friend.

"You're turning Smurf, Alvie." Crystal smiled. She took his hand and led him to the recently redecorated kitchen. Nico and Joy had decorated it themselves. Black marble tops, white walls, silver appliances and black cupboard doors. The new lino floor was designed to look like it had tiles- black and white checkers. Before it had just been a simple, lifeless kitchen with pretty much no colour whatsoever.

Crystal turned the taps on and found a clean cloth under the sink. She drenched it with lukewarm water before turning to Alvie and attempting to clean the paint from his face. "I take it Tobias hasn't had his ADHD stuff?"

"No."

"There's a surprise." She rinsed the cloth off. "How much left of the bathroom?"

"A bit of the walls, clean the tiles and then paint the ceiling again." He paused. "And Joy wants to put up that shower curtain with the ducks on." Crystal smiled. Nico had been against that because it didn't suit him, but Joy and Crystal were moving in and they wanted 'duckies'. Nico had no choice now.

Crystal rinsed the cloth off again and studied Alvie's face, inspecting for any missed blue bits.

"Not so Smurf now." She smiled, chucking the cloth at him. "Clean your T-shirt."

"No." Crystal looked at him quizzically, but also in amusement. "It's an old one of Max's. Tobias also puts paint on us, so old T-shirts don't matter."

"Oh. So he does this often then?" Alvie nodded. Crystal looked down at the T-shirt she was wearing. She had borrowed it from Alvie a few weeks back, but hadn't given it back. It was hers now. Alvie didn't mind as she gave him a few books in return. "Meh, I suppose this is OK."

* * *

They had stopped in time for dinner. Well, Joy had given up. She had tried everything in her power, but Tobias _would not stop painting on people_. Now she was muttering to herself while sitting sulkily on the new sofa and sipping at a hot chocolate Nico had made her. Being the son of Hades- the god of wealth- he could do and buy pretty much whatever the hell he wanted. And he did. Crystal had asked him why he didn't buy a massive big house to trash, but apparently he didn't want one.

"Why? You could have an indoor swimming pool or your own bowling alley."

"With a surround sound cinema and a room for Madam."

"Madam?" Nico nodded. Crystal looked at him quizzically.

"You haven't met Madam…"

"You still have Madam?" Joy asked.

"Yes, I still have Madam."

"Who's Madam?" Tobias quizzed, looking panicked and confused. Too many 'Madam's in ten seconds.

Nico grinned and moved to the window, opening it and whistling sharply. It took a few seconds before a squawking cry returned to him, followed by a raven blur. He stood back proudly as a majestic crow hopped about the window ledge.

"I want one!" Crystal beamed. Nico's grin broadened.

"I'll get you a puppy or something."

"No!" Joy protested from the sofa. Nico's grin gained a sarcastic, triumphant smirking gleam, his eyes shining, but Joy didn't notice. "She has a cat. No more pets!"

"Oh yeah, Pebble. Forgot about her." **(I know I've said Pebble was Pebbles and that the cat was a boy in another chapter, but I forgot about that until I reread the chapter where Alvie went to stay over Crystal's the first time and met Pebble).**

"How can you forget about my cat?" Crystal folded her arms. "Speaking of, I should go and check on her." Nico smirked. "I didn't forget her. I've only just got a free moment."

"You should bring her back." Nico told her.

* * *

They were only five minutes away from Nico's place, Pebble trotting at Crystal's heels, when Alvie stumbled and collided with a wall.

"Are you OK?" Crystal asked, deviating from her path to join him. She put a hand on his shoulder and the other on his elbow to steady him. He put his back to the wall and slid down, shaking chronically. Pebble meowed and head butted his hand before padding about anxiously. Crystal saw that Alvie's eyes had turned that eerie snowy white she always feared.

She hooked his arm around his shoulders and heaved him to his feet. She had to get him home before he started crying blood or something as sinisterly creepy.

He resisted her though, panicking and not understanding what was going on. "Alvie, it's me. Calm down. I'm going to get you back and Mom or Tobias can help." He shook his head and pulled away again, losing his balance and falling over backwards. Crystal rushed to pull him to his feet, but somebody else had stepped in and grabbed Alvie by the arms. Crystal went to thank them, before realising who it was.

Pebble hissed angrily, arching her back while her claws made their appearance. "Get away from him." Crystal demanded through gritted teeth.

William towered over her, Alvie in his grip. Alvie was struggling, his eyes tightly shut while he blindly fought whatever was holding onto him.

"Oh, and what will you do?" William sneered. "This stupid idiot, blind and helpless, and you," He looked her up and down, his sneer deepening, "A pathetic little girl with ideas above her station."

"And us." Crystal risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that Nico, Tobias and Joy had joined the party.

"Let my brother go." Tobias threatened. Crystal hadn't seen him angry before, having only heard how scary he could be. What she had heard didn't even begin to describe that terrifying look.

But Nico… damn, Nico's look could tear strips from you in slow, agonizing torture; it could rip you limb from limb; it could add you to the dead armies he has been said to raise.

Son of Hades indeed.

A strong hand closed around Crystal's upper arm and she was dragged away sharply. William had a hold of her and Alvie.

Pebble hissed and spat, leaping up and burying her claws in William's shoulder. Instinctively, William let her go to smack the cat away. Crystal caught the falling cat, but could do nothing for Alvie.

William made to drag Alvie away, but Nico reacted faster, raising his hands. Inky black shadows twisted around William's ankles, rooting him to the ground. Crystal frowned slightly. Those shadows reminded her of the ones that had busted Alvie's window in the dead of the night. But for some reason, she wasn't scared of them as she had been during the incident in Alvie's room. Maybe it was because she knew Nico was controlling them and that it wasn't attacking her.

The shadows carved deep lines in William's legs, drawing blood. Alvie was dropped as William cried out in pain and terror, swatting at the shadows as if that would help. Tobias instantly darted around William and retrieved his brother, cradling the smaller boy in his arms.

"Alvie?"

"Ugh…" Alvie tried to pull away again, but Tobias held onto him.

"Oy, it's me. Tobias." Alvie gradually stopped fighting. Tobias glanced over his shoulder as William gasped as the icy chill and pain coursing through his body as the shadows buried themselves in his flesh. Joy was rooted to the spot in terror, but everyone else- mortals- were casually walking past as if nothing was happening.

The shadows were tightening around William's throat. Joy drew breath and placed her hand on Nico's shoulder.

"Don't kill him." She breathed, her voice trembling. The shadows dissipated as quickly as they had appeared and Nico relaxed. He folded his arms smugly and glowered at William as the older man staggered and slumped against the wall. Tobias instinctively moved his baby brother away, holding onto him protectively.

William was bleeding all over. He seemed pale already, but he managed to glare at Nico, although there was a noticeable layer of fear under the anger in his eyes.

"You… you're…" He blanched and suddenly looked like he was going to pass out or vomit or both. "Freaks…" He spat. Nico snapped his fingers. William's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed sideways.

"We're getting him home." Nico pointed at Alvie. Tobias nodded and picked Alvie up in his arms. Crystal saw blood on Tobias's T-shirt and padded forward hurriedly. Alvie's eyes were now scarlet, blood running down his cheeks.

Nico put his arm around Joy and pulled her away from William's unconscious form.

"We can't… we can't leave him there!" She protested, looking sickly herself.

"Joy, that guy… remember what he did."

"I know, but what if… what if you killed him or he dies from blood loss or… or…"

"You're too kind for your own good, you are." He glanced over his shoulder. Nobody had noticed William yet. "We'll get to my place and somebody will see him."

"What?" Joy frowned.

"Mist."

"Oh, that stuff… he won't die will he? I mean, I… I hate him for what he's done, but to leave him for dead…"

"Mom, you're a worry guts." Crystal said over her shoulder. "Who cares about William? He's an arse."

"Nice place, Nico. Oh, hey Alvie."

"Percy!" Nico bit his lip to stop himself laughing. Annabeth smacked her husband's arm warningly before moving over to her two sons. Alvie had nestled in Tobias's arms, but he was still visibly shaking and crying blood. "Alvie?" Annabeth took Alvie's hand, frowning at how cold it was. "Alvie, sweetie. It's Mom."

"Mom…" Alvie's fingers tightened around hers.

"You'll be OK, sweetie. Percy, get some water."

"I'm going."

"Seaweed Brain, this is serious!"

"I know. But he's awake, so we shouldn't panic just yet." Annabeth glared at her husband and he hurried off. Percy glanced at Nico as he passed, shooting him a 'help me' look. Annabeth had been a bit snappy lately, but Percy wasn't sure why.

"Um, Annabeth?" Joy stepped forward, wringing her hands. "We tried the water thing, but he… he didn't want it."

"What'd you mean?" Annabeth asked, frowning as her husband returned with a bowl of water and a clean cloth- the 'Alvie treatment', as he had dubbed it.

Percy dampened the cloth and folded it neatly into a long rectangle. He went to place it over Alvie's eyes, but Alvie cringed away, smearing more blood on Tobias's T-shirt.

"Alvie?" Percy asked, worry settling in. Alvie just held his hands out in response. Percy attempted to put the cloth in his hands, but Alvie dropped it.

Crystal studied him carefully for a few seconds. Pebble meowed at her and something clicked in her brain.

"Hold on a sec…" She darted off and disappeared into her new room. It hadn't been decorated yet and there were boxes everywhere with her stuff in and the furniture they had acquired from William's house. She had plans to design it similar to her old room as she really liked that room.

She scoured through a few boxes before finding an old school book and a pen. She returned to the others, Pebble waiting obediently outside for her. "Here, Alvie." It took a few seconds for Alvie to hold the pen steady, giving Crystal time to find a blank page. She folded it over and pressed it into his hand.

Alvie shakily started writing. Tobias was frowning slightly; trying to decipher his brother's messy writing that wasn't sticking to the lines. Tobias hated reading at the best of times, but when it was all over the place, he couldn't handle it.

After a minute or two, Alvie dropped the pen and held the book out to no-one in particular. Annabeth took it and worked her way through his writing.

"Well… Rachel's got competition."

* * *

**I'm gonna leave it there 'cos I've run out of ideas again. Dammit me! THINK! **

**And yeah, William came back, he will probably come back again at some point or whenever I get ideas. **

**Um, don't forget to vote PLEASE! **


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